So if you've read my blog before, you know I LOVE Harry Potter. I was watching it....again...this weekend I was thinking about one of the creatures in the universe that is a really good illustration of something we experience daily.
In the Harry Potter world, there are creatures called boggarts. No one in the wizarding world knows exactly what a boggart really looks like because when they encounter a witch or wizard, a boggart will take the form of what that person fears the most. For example, Harry's faithful sidekick and best friend Ron Weasley is deathly afraid of spiders. When he is face to face with a boggart it turns into a giant spider. Harry's other best friend Hermione Granger (my personal favorite) is mostly afraid of failure. Her boggart would turn into her professor giving her a failing grade or failing an entire term. Now throughout the series, there are more intense encounters where boggarts take on the deeper more personal fears. For example, Ron's mother, Molly Weasley, fears the loss of her children and other loved ones such as Harry and Hermione.
In the series the only way to combat a boggart is laughter. In his class when talking about the boggarts, Professor Remus Lupin, tells his students they have to force their thoughts pass their fear of what's in front of them and envision something that would make the fear amusing. Once they have the picture in their head they use the spell "Riddikulus" and the boggart would take on whatever comical form they had imagined, thus making them laugh and defeating the boggart. Take Ron's for instance, his boggart was a giant spider, when he was able to push past his fear and say the spell, the spider's legs fell off making it fall and look, well ridiculous. Hermione's fear of failure was turned into her getting an award. One of my favorites, Harry's friend Neville Longbottom was afraid of Professor Snape. When his boggart appeared in the form of Snape, he envisioned stern, serious, Snape in his grandmother's clothes, which really made Snape look ridiculous!
Anyway, many of our fears are like boggarts. They come out from the dark corners of our minds or find us when we're walking through a dark time of our lives. When we first see the fear in front of us it can be VERY daunting. But often times, as with the boggarts, fear is just an illusion. The boggarts were just imitations of what the Harry Potter characters feared most, they weren't real. They looked, sounded, and probably felt very real for a moment, but once they were able to push past the fear in their minds and remember they had control of what they thought about, the boggarts were exposed for what they were...fakes.
So often when my boggarts come, I'm sent into a momentary panic. I get all worked up inside and freak out, fill with dread, etc. But then I hear Jesus' voice in my head telling me "Hey! Stop! I'm in control! You don't have to be afraid of anything! Just trust me!" When I hear AND listen to Jesus I'm able to push past the fear and laugh at it. Don't get me wrong, fear is real, fear can be strong...but I'm learning it's only as strong as I let it be. Just like with the boggarts, they were only as powerful as the person they were confronting let them be. Once the person figured it out, the boggarts didn't stand a chance!
So today when your boggarts try to distract you, tell them to get lost. Jesus holds your future. :)
In the Harry Potter world, there are creatures called boggarts. No one in the wizarding world knows exactly what a boggart really looks like because when they encounter a witch or wizard, a boggart will take the form of what that person fears the most. For example, Harry's faithful sidekick and best friend Ron Weasley is deathly afraid of spiders. When he is face to face with a boggart it turns into a giant spider. Harry's other best friend Hermione Granger (my personal favorite) is mostly afraid of failure. Her boggart would turn into her professor giving her a failing grade or failing an entire term. Now throughout the series, there are more intense encounters where boggarts take on the deeper more personal fears. For example, Ron's mother, Molly Weasley, fears the loss of her children and other loved ones such as Harry and Hermione.
In the series the only way to combat a boggart is laughter. In his class when talking about the boggarts, Professor Remus Lupin, tells his students they have to force their thoughts pass their fear of what's in front of them and envision something that would make the fear amusing. Once they have the picture in their head they use the spell "Riddikulus" and the boggart would take on whatever comical form they had imagined, thus making them laugh and defeating the boggart. Take Ron's for instance, his boggart was a giant spider, when he was able to push past his fear and say the spell, the spider's legs fell off making it fall and look, well ridiculous. Hermione's fear of failure was turned into her getting an award. One of my favorites, Harry's friend Neville Longbottom was afraid of Professor Snape. When his boggart appeared in the form of Snape, he envisioned stern, serious, Snape in his grandmother's clothes, which really made Snape look ridiculous!
Anyway, many of our fears are like boggarts. They come out from the dark corners of our minds or find us when we're walking through a dark time of our lives. When we first see the fear in front of us it can be VERY daunting. But often times, as with the boggarts, fear is just an illusion. The boggarts were just imitations of what the Harry Potter characters feared most, they weren't real. They looked, sounded, and probably felt very real for a moment, but once they were able to push past the fear in their minds and remember they had control of what they thought about, the boggarts were exposed for what they were...fakes.
So often when my boggarts come, I'm sent into a momentary panic. I get all worked up inside and freak out, fill with dread, etc. But then I hear Jesus' voice in my head telling me "Hey! Stop! I'm in control! You don't have to be afraid of anything! Just trust me!" When I hear AND listen to Jesus I'm able to push past the fear and laugh at it. Don't get me wrong, fear is real, fear can be strong...but I'm learning it's only as strong as I let it be. Just like with the boggarts, they were only as powerful as the person they were confronting let them be. Once the person figured it out, the boggarts didn't stand a chance!
So today when your boggarts try to distract you, tell them to get lost. Jesus holds your future. :)
" There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
1 John 4:18 NIV
"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."
1 John 4:4 NIV
Comments
Post a Comment