Let It Go!

Since my son is now an adult, I seldom have an opportunity to see the latest Disney movies.  (I'm not ashamed to admit that I really do miss them!)  But recently I’d heard so many people talking about Frozen and heard the song, Let It Go, so many times, that I wanted to put the song in context and see this movie, so we watched it over the Easter weekend.  What a treat!  In classic Disney form, it was entertaining, told a great story, incorporated humor, great music and even a surprise twist.  But the real gift in this movie is the lesson – and it’s one I hope we all learn.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, I don’t want to give the entire thing away.  But to tell this story, I must share some of it.  Do let me encourage you to rent this movie, however, and enjoy it for yourself. 

The story is very loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen.  I say very loosely based, because that story is much less about the Snow Queen herself than about two children who, having been separated by the queen, are reunited through the love of one for the other.  The Disney version, in contrast, is about a young princess who has the magical gift for making snow and ice that separates her from her beloved younger sister.

The eldest princess, Elsa, encouraged by her beloved younger sister, Anna, to make a snowman, slips and injures Anna with one of her snow spells.  It is kissed away by the trolls, who reveal that fear will be Elsa’s enemy.  The king and queen decide to hide Elsa’s gifts, and to keep the girls separated – for should a spell strike her heart, the younger sister would turn to ice.  So Elsa’s feared gift is hidden behind closed doors, and the girls are not allowed to play together.

Fast forward years later, when Elsa is crowned queen.  Suppressed by fear and barely able to hide her magic, when Anna argues with her, Elsa’s abilities are loosed for all to see, and she runs to the mountain peaks to protect her sister and townspeople from her uncontrollable magic.  There, in snowy isolation, she finally unleashes her gifts, makes her ice palace, and sings the featured song, Let It Go. 

It is apparent that Disney has picked up on a remarkable thing that is happening in reality, and is the reason I’m writing about a Disney movie.  There is a parallel here between the fantasy magic of Disney, and real-life abilities. 

For those who are on a spiritual path, this is a time of great awakening; a paradigm shift in consciousness as we evolve into the future of humanity.  Children have come into our midst with amazing spiritual gifts, and adults have become aware of their own gifts and abilities that had formerly been so rare as to be feared.  More and more people are realizing that they are highly intuitive, or have gifts of healing or communicating telepathically. Numerous other gifts are surfacing that only a short time ago, and actually in some places still, would have been feared and suppressed.  Just as Elsa’s magical abilities were in Frozen.

There is great harm that happens when gifts and abilities are suppressed; not only to the psyche of the person hiding, or hiding from their gifts, but also involve those around them.  “We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us,” writes Marianne Williamson, and we all suffer when any of us hide and refuse to use our gifts that are meant to enhance mankind.

St. Paul writes extensively about spiritual gifts in his first letter to the Corinthians and again in Ephesians.  There are other scriptural references to gifts as well.  But Paul actively encouraged people to use their gifts and went to great lengths to describe twenty-one spiritual gifts and discuss their use.  Others are additionally described or exemplified in other biblical passages.  And he even explains the purpose; “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” (1 Corinthians 12:7 – emphasis mine.)

Spiritual gifts and abilities are in us by the Spirit of God that resides in each of us.  And we are to use those gifts through love for the benefit of others.  There is nothing to fear here, there is no Disney magic, only the love of God expressed in myriad ways. 

Why should we fear the natural ability of someone to heal?  Or to reveal a spiritual truth (prophesy)?  Is not the healer helping someone?  Is not the prophet giving us assistance to enhance our lives?  Why should we fear the ability of a psychic to relay messages of love from our departed friends and family? 

Yet, many of us were taught through our religious structures that these gifts were the work of the devil!  We were taught to hide these abilities, or as Elsa sang, “conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know …” And what we are discovering now is that all those abilities we’ve stuffed down are coming back to the surface, and are coming out in all kinds of ways; illnesses, depression, psychoses and breakdowns – or perhaps worse in extreme cases. Everyone around us suffers as we suffer.  The good for the world that can be realized through our gift is never attained.  Humanity is held back from its potential.  As the wise troll told the king and queen in Frozen, fear is the enemy.

It is time for us to search our hearts for the gifts and abilities we may have suppressed, and let it go!  It is through using our gifts in love that we learn how to control them, how and when to use them, and why.  It is time to cast aside the fear of standing in our truth and allow our light to shine!  It is time to cast aside our fear of others’ abilities, and help them learn to use and control their gifts as well.  Love is the tool, the why and the how.  We may not understand someone’s gift, but that is no reason to fear it.  As Paul stated, “God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.” (1 Corinthians 12:6)  If it is grounded and used in love, there is nothing to fear.

This is about letting go of the fear that holds us back and keeps us from letting God’s light shine through us.  This is about bringing into the light the beautiful gifts that God has given us, to help us, to benefit humanity, to light the path of our evolution.  This is about replacing fear with love, for ourselves, for humanity and for God, and realizing the amazing, beautiful purpose of our lives. 

Frozen is a timely tale for us to take to heart.  Let it go, indeed!   Bravo Disney!!

Rev. Stacy Lee Goforth is an Interfaith Minister, Spiritual Life Coach, Intuitive, Mystic, Co-Creator of Crystal Vibrations Jewelry, and Talk Radio Host of Goforth on Faith.  She is the author of The Divine Plan, a spiritual gifts based program for discovering your unique life purpose.  She serves on the worship teams for the Interfaith Community International in NYC, and the New London United Methodist Church.  She also leads The Path of the Mystic, a weekly one hour class on spiritual/mystical experiences at the Center for Healing Therapies in Waterford, CT.

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