Pediatrician, Medical Missions Director, Speaker, Author, and Dreamer…
Once upon a time there lived a little princess. She was not a real princess, she was just a happy little girl with a vivid imagination and tremendous dreams. Her story is not about twinkling fairies, nor mermaids, nor magical lands, but to her, life was like a fairytale. The girl and her mother lived in the midst of a large, bustling city that was alive with cajun spices and jazzy music. But the girl and her mother had little time to enjoy the city or the people. Everyday, the girl settled into a babysitter’s home before the sun rose and stayed there until after it slept while her mother rushed through hours of traffic to longer hours of work. Every other week, the girl’s father who was her knight in shining armor would rescue her from the busyness and whisk her away to his quaint home in a nearby country town. They would spend their week together but eventually, he would return to work and take her back to the busy city. No, it was not a fairy-tale life, and not really magical either, but the girl was perfectly content with the love of her parents and her magical stories and movies of characters that defied all odds to reach their dreams.
As the girl grew, the city seemed to be alive with opportunities, but often, in the busyness of the week, these opportunities passed the girl and her mother by. And one day, her mother decided that the never-ending stresses of racing through life had become too much. They packed up their meager bags and moved to a land far, far away from the city’s neon lights. As they stared out the windows on their journey, heat waves rose over the hills, the greenery faded, and all that remained was sandy colored dirt. It was called the “Land of Enchantment,” and when they arrived at the base of a breathtaking purple mountain range, the trip was done. The girl and her mother settled into a relaxing life in this sleepy little town in the valley. Each evening, as the sun went down over the mountains, the sky would light up with bright, bold colors in a breathtaking sunset. The sleepy little town also held many friendly and wonderful people and was safe and beautiful for the little girl. Under the umbrella of love from her mother, grandparents, and her heavenly Father, she continued to grow. The girl began to go to school, where books opened up a whole new magical world for her, filled with stories of amazing people, daring adventures, and incredible feats. Her mind filled with dreams of far off places and magical wishes come true, and she wrote of many, and wished that she would always remain a happy princess.
As she grew, her curiosity led her increasingly to study science, where a world of invisible, organized structures seemed to magically combine to make the visible world. Sadly, the stories of fantasy she used to write were set aside. As many do, she replaced her fantasies and imagination with concrete evidence and complex theories. She worked hard to get grades and tests scores for a university that would help her continue her studies in medicine. She exchanged her fanciful dreams for more realistic goals. She exchanged her belief in a God who loved her for a belief in things that could be clearly seen. The young girl packed up her bags and moved away from the peaceful town and the friends that had helped her grow. She sprinkled pixie dust on her fairytale dreams and laid them aside as sleeping beauties, vowing to never return to awaken them. She thought only of grades, college, and a bright future, and she did not see herself as a princess anymore.
One day, she was no longer a little girl. She was a young woman, living in a land far, far away from home in a buzzing city where she let her studies take her. The sunsets here were hidden by the cold, grey skyscrapers. The bustle of the city and its busy, distant people had returned and were both familiar and unfamiliar to the girl who had grown so much since she last saw it. She admitted that her fairy tale life had somehow ended and a life driven by passion and adventure had been replaced by a sea of competitive grades, chemical structures, and forgotten dreams. It seemed, for a moment, as if the fairytale had ended forever.
But one day, she decided that she needed to be rescued from this fast paced sprint of life, and she turned to her heavenly father, asking Him to save her. She set aside her book about chemical structures and picked up a pen. Bold, fierce lines of ebony criss-crossed the page as she began to write again. Suddenly, she remembered that in addition to facts and figures, life can hold hope, magic, and beauty as well, which can be just as real and important as everything else. She remembered that like the characters in her stories, she had overcome great odds and defeated great giants to get to where she was. She remembered that she was once a princess, and royalty never forgets who they are or where they came from. From then on, she refused to be lost in the shuffle of individualism and realism. She let her curiosity guide her steps, and molded her classes so she could learn more about the person and not just the science of medicine. She covered the walls of her room with pictures of sunsets- calming, unhurried reminders that life is beautiful and peaceful if you let it be so. She immersed herself in clubs that explored other people’s cultures and values, and marveled at the beauty of diversity. And she continued to write. Her mind once again filled with dreams of far off places and magical wishes come true. Now her dreams were more specific goals of showing others who had saved her, using medicine to magically solve difficult problems, and how to find peace in the midst of a busy and hectic world.
Finally, she again turned to writing her fairytales which were no longer imaginary, but about people who could tackle any obstacle and who would do great things and could change the world if they would work together and believe in something true. The young woman believed that “fairy tales are more than true- not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten” (G.K. Chesterton). And she believed that when people believe in the magic of her heavenly father, hope, and love, they, too, will live happily ever after, just like the little princess will. The End.
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