“Real life is no fairy tale.”
What people inevitably mean by this statement is, “Life is tough. Things won’t always go your way. It’s not all rainbows and cupcakes.”
I wonder, have these people ever listened to a fairy tale? The fairy tales I know don’t have much to do with rainbows or cupcakes. More often they deal with murderous stepmothers and deadly curses. The world of fairy tales is a world where your answer to a single riddle might mean life or death. It is a world where you will need all your wisdom, courage, and compassion to complete your task and to remain human. It is a world where the stakes are high: great good and great destruction are both possible. It is very much like the real world.
Frederick Buechner wrote, “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”
Life, like a fairy tale, is full of beautiful and terrible things. Keep your eyes open; keep your heart open. Don’t be afraid.
And please, please, don’t ever use the expression, “Real life is no fairy tale.”
Image from Snow White, retold by Paul Heins, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
True true! The other thing is, I think people say that because of the “happily ever after” that seems to come at the end of every fairy tale. As Christians, we have the promise and the hope that we will have our “happy ending” through Jesus Christ our Lord. It makes all the difference knowing that and going through all the ups and downs that this life brings.