Sticking with the theme (yes, I have too much time on my hands and have probably seen this film too many time), Encanto strikes again. Today, Mirabel’s other sister. Need context? Read the post from day 5 (and day 6…)
Isabella’s gift is to create flowers and beautiful things. In the introduction song, she’s called the ‘perfect golden child’. She is the one everyone loves, she is beautiful and graceful. She is the one due to get engaged and secure the future of the Family Madrigal. On the surface, she has the perfect life – everyone loves her and she brings joy to the people around her with the flowers and bouquets.
However, there is a scene where Mirabel is meant to give her a hug to save the miracle. Its at that point we find out the pressure Isabella is under. She can’t be honest about her feelings because everyone expects her to be graceful and calm. She can’t be honest with her Abuela who wants her to marry someone from the village because she doesn’t want to disappoint her. She isn’t free to be who she wants or do what she wants. She has to be perfect for her family.
Perfectionism (self imposed or family expectation) and people pleasing. Two more things that can act as barriers to a relationship with God. When we let the opinions of others dictate our actions, we lose sight of God’s vision. If we try to please everyone, we’ll… Speaking from experience, it doesn’t work. It’s just exhausting and not possible. Trying to keep everyone else happy often leads to burn out and not being happy yourself.
Trying to be perfect leads to a fear of getting it wrong. A fear of getting it wrong leads to not taking risks or trying new things. Jesus tells a parable of three servants given some money while he goes away. 2 invest the money and risks losing it, but end up making more. The other is scared of losing the money so buries it to keep it safe. He ends up losing the little he has when the master returns, while the other two are entrusted with more.
Isabella gets her own song, and one of the lines is “what could I do if I just knew it didn’t need to be perfect?” How about us? What could we do if we didn’t have the pressure of needing to be perfect? What could we do if we knew we were already good enough, if we knew God didn’t need us to work hard to please him but loved us anyway?
And that’s the thing, so often we treat God’s opinion of us like that of the people around us – something that needs to be earned and could be lost if we don’t measure up. God never states that. Ever. His love is not conditional. In fact God encourages us to try new things, to step out and take risks. He won’t abandon us at the first sign of a mistake, and he forgives all who say sorry (and mean it). We can’t measure him by the people around us.
So being secure in that knowledge, that you are loved and forgiven, what do you dare to try?
The Reason for my Hope Blog 