Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace. Eugene O’Neill

Obsessed by a fairytale? Is that true? Are we Christians presenting a message that is a real and as relevant as a fairytale? Like the Celts, do we hope for a return to the former Land of Summer? Or dream of the long-lost city of Atlantis? Or long for a coming Golden Age?

How do we share our vision, our hope? Perhaps it does sound to others as believable as a fairytale—something you would wish was true, but is as likely as meeting a leprechaun.

I remember sharing my beliefs with my boss at work in a large aerospace company. As I finished my explanation, he turned to me and with a sad expression said, “I wish I could believe that was true.”

How can we present our assurance of a bright new future in the presence of God without our message sounding like science fiction fantasy or misguided dreams? How do we help people to see the truth in what we are saying, and not sound as if we are truly obsessed by a fairytale?

Many people have had their hopes crushed so often, their dreams so frequently disappointed, that they are unwilling to believe. What proof is there? they may ask. What assurance can you give me that this is not just make-believe? What is the basis for this wonderful future? Is it only some maybe pie in the sky by and by?

And what of here and now? We may sense that this life is not the way it was meant to be. We may look for the meaning of life, trying to find answers to our sense of betrayal and abandonment. We may feel unfulfilled, dissatisfied, questioning, unsure—disturbed by the meaninglessness of our existence, wondering what our purpose is.

Yet is our dissatisfaction the reason to “spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace”?

Or is it, as some have concluded, that life is futile, and there are no answers. Maybe the magic door does not exist—and so many have given up the quest, having never found it. Was there ever a kingdom of peace anyway?

How many have concluded that the answers, if there are any, are just fairytales—as likely as the return of legendary King Arthur to Camelot or a princess kissing a frog? And how do we convince those who’ve heard the boy crying wolf too often?

How do we make real: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him”?

Only when the truth defeats the fairytale…

© Jonathan Gallagher