Lost Boys

Yesterday I watched my usual episode of Once Upon a Time (I love all things fairy tale) and it disturbed me quite a bit, surprisingly. (If you watch Once and don't want a spoiler you should probably wait to read this after you watch it.)  Basically, there are all sorts of fairy tale characters and stories all meshed together in this show, and currently, the characters are in Neverland, the land of Peter Pan. Something different about this show, though, is that Peter Pan is portrayed as evil, very evil. At first I didn't understand why, but in light of this letter about parenting by Dr. James Dobson, I now see why he is evil.

First of all, Peter Pan is a lonely boy with no family of his own and he kidnaps other boys to be his playmates, thus taking them away from their families. He never grows up, and therefore skirts all responsibility that comes with being a man. And in this show, he tells the boys to forget about their families, that he and the other lost boys are their family now. In addition, Peter Pan tells Rumplestiltskin  that the boys who hear his song on the flute (yes, he is also the Pied Piper in this show) are those who feel unloved and unwanted. And, in the show, Henry, who up until now has remained hopeful that his family will come rescue him, finally hears the song after Pan tells him that his family isn't coming for him.

When I read Dr. Dobson's letter on Confident Parenting this morning, I realized how true this is in our society. Because many times parents aren't there for their children, be they emotionally or physically absent, they turn elsewhere for love, and that elsewhere many times is not healthy or loving. In fact, it usually involves sin, which is what that Pied Piper's song reminded me of- a sweet sounding temptation to sin.  Temptation makes sin look appealing, not ugly as it really is. In the Once show, once Henry finally succumbs to the 'celebration' with the other Lost Boys, it becomes all about 'having fun' instead of having hope that good will win (as Henry did all along until now). Sin causes people to lose hope of a resurrection from this earthly life with all its sorrows, and just reduce this life to endless pleasure seeking to drown one's sorrows. It becomes the main goal in many people's lives, to simply find pleasure over and over again as an antidote to the stresses and sorrows in our lives. 

This convicted me to truly share the Good News with others. Just as in the Once Upon a Time show, the 'good guys' are never losing hope and always confident that good will win, we need to be confident in our Lord and His saving us from our sin. Good will win, and I feel that so many people have become so focused on their day to day lives, their stresses and pleasures, that they lose sight of the bigger picture and of the Loving God Who is there, directing our lives and rescuing us from our sins and consoling us in our sorrows. We need to remind them of this (and ourselves!) 

I am also convicted about families, that we need to be present to our families so that they don't go looking elsewhere for love. They are the most important responsibility we have on this earth. We need to make sure they are loved, that they know our God and that they go to heaven!