Labyrinth

There is this movie from the 80's starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly called "Labyrinth". I used to love this movie. It's still a lot of fun, although time has passed it's special effects by. The plot revolves around Sarah's quest to rescue her little brother from the Goblin King while trapped in a world that is an enormous fantasy maze, a labyrinth. The thing is, her brother is kidnapped at her own request. She started the problem, and it falls to her to solve it.


Our lives are often as confusing as Sarah's labyrinth. We make a choice, turn a corner, only to find ourselves trapped yet again. But there is a way out if we can recognize it.

• "Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great...For my will is as strong as yours, my kingdom as great... Damn. I can never remember that line."

After many struggles, mistakes, illusions, bargains and fabrications, she finally realizes that the answer to everything lies in this small statement: "You have no power over me."

Too often I look around myself and realize that I have given my power away to someone who doesn't deserve it or doesn't care. I have given my power up to guilt or negativity. Despair and misery steal bits of me away. Fear is a master manipulator that thrives on taking my power. And when I finally come back to myself, my power is gone. I have bargained it away for nothing. I think this happens to all of us. But I know the answer. I know what to do about it, even if I'm not ready admit it at the time.

• "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here..."

I must, even when my power seems diminished or gone, keep fighting. For as the movie says, "My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great...you have no power over me." And I must believe it to be true. Without the truth of it behind the words, they are just words.

And that's it. That is the key to everything. The trials we face, the people that would belittle, only have power over us if we let them.

The power is yours.

The power is mine.