By Ashlie Miller
This time of year inspires many writing prompts – harvest, the changing of leaves, reflections on shorter days and longer nights, to name a few. These beautiful images contrast with the prevalence of darker things that abound, from chaos across the globe to the tensions of election season. Some dark lessons are even closer. For me, a lesson awaited on a walk through a nearby neighborhood.
On the evening walk, I pass a home adding Halloween decor that becomes more gruesome each week. Another house warns of fictional danger with crime tape as though something tragic has occurred. Yet another wards off guests with a very creepy clown in a lurching position on the garage door. As unsettling as those can be, one home has gone the extra mile. Its display stops me in my tracks: a dozen skeletons dressed as fairy-tale princesses, missing any true signs of life. The girls are fooling no one (though they may horrify real toddling princesses).
It may seem laughable. “How silly,” we say, but it reflects a much bigger message. Fairy-tale promises lurk around every corner – stories of grander existence but lacking hope and life. Whispers of a better path, a more enlightened way.
Every day, we pass people on the street, work alongside them, or scroll through their social media posts, which seem to show well-lived lives. They fool us for a long time until a bombshell drops, exposing who they truly are or revealing they are not as happy as they present. We may be left feeling betrayed, confused, or deeply saddened. Perhaps the hope we placed in them and in the lives they portrayed has vanished.
We have to ask ourselves, “What is real life with true meaning, hope, and joy?”
Or maybe we are chasing a fairy-tale existence and trying to pass it off to others – or even to ourselves. Sure, from a distance, it looks like a dream come true. We know it’s a mirage, conjured in a dry desert of discouragement as we seek acceptance, try to impress others, or convince ourselves and others we can have everything we want while missing what truly brings fullness to life.
Scripture describes a significant difference between those who are alive in Christ and those who have not yet come to Christ on His terms. What makes a Christian so different from those who reject Christ? You may be able to come up with your own list based on anecdotal reflections or your personal experiences. Some may be valid observations, others based on prejudices. But what is the common standard across history and lands? Through Christ, believers receive spiritual life through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Scripture describes those apart from Christ as spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-5). One truly has real life, and the other is just bare bones.
Thankfully, we don’t have to put out lawn displays that reflect the true nature of our spiritual lives, but if we did, would they look like skeletons in costume or more like a living nativity?
