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On Saturday, I took my girls to go see Wonder Park with some friends. A new movie theater just opened up in our town an we were all really excited to check it out AND to see this adorable new movie!
Have you seen it yet? If not, you might not want to read past this point. I’m definitely going to give a few minor spoilers in this review.
Quick Recap: a young girl, June, has been dreaming up and creating a theme park with her mom since she was very little. WONDER PARK is what they call it. Her mom becomes sick and has to go away but before she goes she tells June “Don’t lose the light inside of you”...I cried like a baby. Seriously, my makeup was actually running. Anyway, her mom goes away and we see June eventually pack up all their creations and move on from Wonder Park. She doesn’t want anything to do with it any more and she’s afraid to leave her home or her dad for fear of something going wrong. She eventually ends up in a forest where she finds that the park her and her mother created is ACTUALLY real and has fallen apart. She works hard to help her friends restore the park and all ends well. Her mom comes home and it’s literally one of the cutest movies I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Here’s where it got me though. At one point while June is trying to help restore the park she realizes that “the darkness” (a fluffy dark purple swirly cloud) has taken the monkey who’s in charge of the park and without him she can’t restore it. (I’m leaving out sooooo much, but hear me out). June decides to go to the darkness in order to bring back the light.
Let’s just put that into perspective for a minute...”I have to go to the dark.....to bring back the light."
At first I didn’t like that. I felt like the movie was subliminally encouraging that we need to indulge...enter...give way to the darkness before we can have the light back. And as adults...we know that when humans give way to evil...they don’t always come back to the light. However, as i thought about it for hours after we saw the movie...I realized the real meaning behind this scene in the movie.
”I have to go to the dark.....to bring back the light."
In order to FIND the light...you have to acknowledge that darkness is there. If you’re in denial of the darkness, the hurt, the pain, the bad, the scary, the unknown...how can you ever address it and heal it? You can’t. It takes being brave and making a huge leap into the reality that the darkness is there...whether it’s something you’re personally feeling and experiencing, or maybe you’re watching someone else experience it. Saying it out loud, making yourself aware--that’s the first step to finding light and healing once again.
I know I took this sweet and innocent movie way way deeper than many will (I tend to do that with movies my kids are watching...I want to try and figure out the underlying message..and trust me it’s there...and it’s not always as good as this one is)...anyway, I know I took it way way deep...but I love what I finally uncovered as I analyzed every bit of it.
Darkness is real. We cannot pretend it way, ignore it away, or even lie it away. It will only grow and continue to suck more of our lives up into until we face it head on and bring back the light. (or slide it out of giant rainbow bendy straws.) I’ll take the latter please! 🙋♀️
If you’re suffering--in any capacity, I urge you to acknowledge where you are. Jesus will meet you there. And then, tell someone. The light will ALWAYS outshine the dark...just be brave and give it a chance.
