Spring returns to Colorado…and with it, a snowy day that we all know to expect this time of year, but have a hard time accepting. Snow in April? Really? Yes, really if you live in Colorado. But, it’s been a long winter and we’re ready for that other kind of spring…the green kind with blue skies, warm temperatures, and daffodils. We want to shed the layers, go sleeveless, and bare our toes in the sun.
But what about the layers we wear on the inside, the kind we’re not so quick to shed? Layers of protection, shame, or self-hatred built up in response to the wounds in our lives. We long for spring in our souls, too, but shedding our emotional layers is not quite as welcomed or easy. Maybe we’d rather keep a thick blanket of ice and snow over those parts of our hearts.
The latest Disney movie, Frozen, has filled the ACTS House recently with powerful lessons along these lines. Its theme of family and the power of “true love to thaw frozen hearts” fits perfectly with the mission of UnbridledACTS to “love women to life.” More than a motto, these words are a daily reality in the Unbridled communities. Through tangible acts and spoken words of love, we are learning that we really are worth pursuing and loving, even when our behavior exposes lingering beliefs that sabotage our healing journeys.
We see this in the two heroines of Frozen as well. The perfectly-poised and beautiful Elsa, filled with guilt and fear, is determined to “be the good girl, and never let her feelings show.” Running away to let go of her past and finally let her hair down, she still comes out looking like a Barbie doll. Stunning on the outside, but totally isolated in the ice palace she constructs around herself. Left with only fractals of a frozen façade, she tries to convince herself that “the cold never bothered her anyway…” Really?
Then we have Anna…. Quirky. Adorable. A resourceful little princess, with a fierce and open-hearted pursuit of love, relationship and reconciliation. Determined to keep her heart alive after losing her parents and to love her sister back to life, she goes a little overboard in the other direction. I mean, how wise is it to get engaged to someone you just met the same day just because you like the same kind of sandwiches? Or to set out on a dangerous mountain rescue mission alone? In winter. Without snow boots. Really?
The Disney story, based on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, is our story. Our story, though different in details, is your story. We’ve all been pierced by shards of pain in our lives, and we all long for the return of springtime to our souls. It’s universal. Everyone needs grace and understanding for our “bad choices when we’re mad, scared or stressed, but throw a little love our way and you’ll bring out our best.”
If you haven’t seen the movie, do. You’ll love it! Open your heart to recognize yourself in the characters and learn from their stories. Listen to the soundtrack. Notice the lyrics. They’re cute, clever and profound. Dance around your house, like we do here at the ACTS House, singing Love songs that thaw our hearts, and know that this same Love is pursuing you through family and friends who want you to know that you’re “worth melting for,” too.
UnbridledACTS Guest
[excerpts and lyrics from Frozen]