Why I love the floating lanterns...

I am in LOVE with the movie Tangled! Just love it. First of all, it is really a throw back to the old-school Disney animation, style, and story line, which makes it awesome. Second, I am a real sucker for a nice, innocent, lighthearted - funny - but still tear jerking, love story... one chock full of true love, sacrifice, and redemption. Disney seems to have a knack for this. Third, and perhaps most of all, I love the LANTERNS. They have captivated me. I spent all week trying to build one my myself (complete and utter FAIL, by the way... I want it to be known that they are more complex then Disney makes them out to be!!!). The scene in the movie that stands out the most to me is when Rapunzel and Flynn are out on the boat watching the lanterns set off and swirl around them... the use of light is absolutely breathtaking and gives me chills just thinking about it! But even more special than the beauty of the lanterns themselves is the meaning that they hold for me. In fact, this whole movie is pregnant with symbolism and meaning! Let me explain...

I recently held a girls night sleep-over where we watched the movie Tangled. As I planned out the night, I felt that I wanted to tie the movie in with a devotional that we could do before bed, and I wanted it to have to do with the lanterns. they had so captured my heart and my imagination, and I had the grand idea of making one to set off with the girls after our devotional. I thought about how in the movie the king and queen NEVER gave up on their stolen daughter. Year after year, without any sign to hope of her return, they continued to set off these lanterns on the faith that one day she would see them and come home to their waiting arms. The whole town, in fact, shared in this endeavor for their one little lost princess, for all of her 18 years! To me, this screams of he faithfulness of God. We, his prodigal children have been "stolen" or "kept" away from him - either by our own choices or by the blindness of our hearts - and yet he still seeks us. Every day he sends us messages of love and longing. His most poignant message was in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most important "lantern of love" to ever grace earth's skies! God does not give up on us, but searches for the ONE out of the 99. And the church shares in the father's heart for the lost, and searches for them too! How awesome is that! But just like Rapunzel felt as though somehow the lanterns were meant for her, yet she did not know what they meant, many people also miss God's messages. We look right past the butterfly on the flower, the veins in the leaf, the kindness of a stranger, and the hug of a child, and do not see the glory of God beckoning us. But he will never stop seeking us! He does not get discouraged! The sun, arguably the BIGGEST lantern we will ever see, continues to rise each day letting us know that mercies are new and alive THIS DAY. God. Never. Gives. Up. On. Us. His love, mercy, and grace astound me... part of me cannot understand such faithful, persevering love...

But another part of me CAN. This is how I am beginning to feel about my children. The ones who I have yet to see. I do not know their faces, I do not know anything about their world, and I do not know if they even have the heart to hope that they will soon get a family... YET I WILL SEEK THEM WITH ALL OF MY HEART. I will never stop trying to get to them: pursue the funding that is necessary, fill out all of the paperwork, educate myself on their Congolese culture, make sure that my heart is prepared to work through their hurts and baggage with them, and so on. I wish I could let them know that I am coming... I am thinking about them... I have not forgotten them... I will bring them home! If only I could set off a lantern, then maybe, somehow, they would see it and know that it was from me for them. I wish it were that easy! Like a Disney movie.  :)  I think that is why I wanted to make and launch a lantern so badly... because in my heart, it would be for them. Just like the king and queen seeking their lost daughter, never losing hope. But even if I can't physically send my children a message, I can do something just as powerful....

I can send my message to God in prayer. He holds my children in his hands even now, and he always will. Even after we adopt them, they will still belong to Jesus first and foremost! He knew them and he knew that we would be family before he created them. Moreover, they were created for Dan and I, and Dan and I were created for them. What a miracle! So, when I pray to the Lord, it is like I am sending him floating lantern messages, glowing with my deepest dreams, hopes, and hurts. In response, he can reach and meet the needs of my children wherever they are until I can get to them. My messages touch my Abba Father's heart. And the best part it, I do not have to wonder whether he received them... I can KNOW that he hears every whisper of my heart! Thankfully, I do not have to be able to build a successful floating lantern to do this either, or I'd be in big trouble, LOL!

So there you have it... why I love the movie Tangled. Why it chokes me up to see those lanterns. Why I am so obsessed with setting one off... and watching it float gently out of sight like a shooting star in slow motion, gleaming across the night sky and heading toward to horizon. Now you know that when I see them I am thinking about my children over in the Congo wishing I could send them a message... and until that day comes I am just talking about it with Jesus.

And I am working to get to them - seeking them - never giving up until I hold them in my arms!