Stories of Sacrifice and Love

Looking through another person's eyes for a moment to see the world in a different way, running through a place of evil villains, near death experiences and hope and if to only feel the pain or triumphs of someone I will never have the chance to meet. These scenarios are why I have a passion to read, to grow and to learn, for a second I leave this world and enter someone else's.

Last night I finished the epic saga of Harry Potter, a series that has swept the world for over ten years. These books open the imagination to a world so different and yet so similar to our own. The fight of good and evil is an ancient one but one that we will always be fighting. Two of the most beautiful and consistent themes through Harry Potter are the concepts of love and sacrifice. Oh love, the sound of the word, the feelings it bring, the adrenaline rush. The world is fond of the feeling of love but Harry Potter reveals the true meaning of love which is sacrifice.

Sacrifice is not something that comes easily, it certainly does not come easily to me. To lay down yourself for someone else, to give up your claim over anything so that someone else can be happy. As easy as it is to type on a computer, these ideals are not easily lived out.

My friend Sarah always said I have an obsession with finding Christian themes in the secular world, this is because I do believe that when you look at the plight of good verse evil there is a sense of who God is in the midst of it. Lately I have been realizing how often I hear "All you need is Love", "Love is the only thing that matters in our world", "love is the only thing worth fighting for". Something simple and yet so revolutionary occured to me as I listened to the words of those universal themes: "God is love", a phrase used among Christians constantly, real love, sacrificial love means that God is present in it because it is who He is.

God is closer than we could ever imagine even to those that do not believe He is real. He is love, let that idea captivate you. In all those books read and stories heard that are filled with sacrificial love, God is speaking through the midst of them all, His beautiful love for us.