Anthropomorphizing

For my vocabulary-challenged readers (in case I have any, which I don't think I do) that means giving human characteristics to non-human things. I do it a lot. I name printers (mine was Bruce, after the mechanical shark in Jaws). I miss cars when they're sold (not the Pontiac, but it had the unpleasant duty of replacing my beloved Subaru GL-10, Cricket). I keep my toys, even though 40 is closer for me than 30. Ironically, I tend to de-humanize actual humans, but mostly 'cause I think most of them are stupid most of the time.

I watched Toy Story 3 today. Paid $11! Buck fifty of that was for 3-D glasses that, as far as I could tell, did nothing. Maybe it's my own glasses that got in the way. Or maybe it's that I closed my eyes anytime somebody fell from a height. I don't like heights. Whatever. The price means I will no longer be attending movies in the theater. If everything switches to 3D, which seems to be the case, I'm not paying half the price of a DVD to keep my eyes closed or risk motion sickness.

Anyway, walking out of the theater, one of my companions said, "It's not true, you know."
"What isn't true?" another companion asked.
"Toys don't come to life."

Shows what he knows.

Perhaps it isn't true, but any child who has loved a toy the way the little boy loved his Velveteen Rabbit knows Toys Are Real. How could they not be?

My toys were my best friends as a child. I know...Shocking! We went to other planets. They helped me develop story lines I hope one day to write. They were by my side when no humans were to be found.

Driving home from the theater, still wiping away tears as I thought of my beloved stuffed bear Puff, who was saved from landfill disaster by the grace of God, I thought about how toys become real in the imagination of a child. That creative spark placed within us by the Creator plays itself out in our play. Which led to the wondering, are we the toys in God's mind? What creative urge within Him spun us out to weave our story? Praise Him He doesn't lock us in the toy box.

Please don't misunderstand this as a teaching on doctrine. It isn't. It's just a turtle trail, sparked by a movie that made me happy and sad at the same time.

I highly recommend Toy Story 3, but I also highly recommend taking some tissues. If you ever loved a toy, you'll need them.