It has to be said that I am a big fan of Disney films. For some strange reason I cannot fathom, I have no time for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or those old school characters of yore”¦but give me an Alladdin and I am a happy camper. In fact, I actually prefer watching children’s films to adult ones. Perhaps because I am secretly still 4 and a half? Who knows?

Thus it was with tidings of great joy (fa lala la la, la la la lah) that I took the children to see Disney’s latest winter epic, Frozen. It had all the promise of a great family movie. But actually it was more than this, having (as all the best Disney films do) a very Biblical Narrative and subtext.

The story (if you are yet to sample its delights) charts the journey of Elsa, an insecure lonely princess who grows up with magical powers that turn everything she touches to ice. This beautiful but dangerous gift, comes with hugely unwieldy consequences. After a horrible mistake where she accidently harms her beloved younger sister, Anna, she begins to shut herself away from everyone in the kingdom, both out of fear of her own power and to protect those she loves.
When her parents are tragically killed she becomes the Snow Queen and her younger, estranged sister Elsa and her are thrown together for the first time at her Coronation.

Soon afterwards her gift is discovered, and she believes she has no other option but to exile herself into the mountains where she can be truly herself. Once alone, she is no longer the timid, terrified princess she was before, but rather is transformed, at least for a short time, into a joyful, confident young woman, finally free.

The story isn’t just some pscho-babble nonsense of someone overcoming their fears to embrace their unique abilities and accept themselves for who they are”¦ but so much more.
There are many truths within the film that struck me.

One is the fact that God’s power is so often totally misunderstood. People are immediately suspicious when they hear of a healing, or a miracle. They will even suspect foul play. We are all skeptics of the highest order. I loved the way that the children played with the miracles, had fun with them and enjoyed them. I would want to be like this when God shows me the miraculous.

A second powerful lesson to be found in Frozen is that of the life that is laid down for a family member. The power, in this case, of sisterly love is truly moving and beautiful. An act of true love like this sets us free.

A third beautiful thought this film provoked is that without God we remain frozen in our hearts forever, never to thaw and understand either who we are, or who He is.

Both Elsa and her little sister Anna make great sacrifices for the other, sometimes to devastating effect, showing the power of love.

Another lesson is the wonderful truth that sometimes love is found not in great and important people but in great sacrifices made by ordinary people.

The Message version of John 15 1-15 says “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.