Archive for February 2009
The Heart of It All…
On her journey down the yellow brick road – a journey, may I remind you, that grows more dangerous every step she takes – Dorothy meets a number of strange sights. She befriends the Scarecrow, and later the two of them come upon a lumberjack made of tin, standing utterly still in the forest, his ax frozen in midair.
At first, he seems unable to speak. Coming closer, they discover that he is trying to say something after all. Oil… can. After a bit more misunderstanding and misinterpretation, they get the oil can to the joints of his mouth, only to find that he can speak as well as any man, but that he was rusted.
Once he is freed from his prison, he begins to tell them his story.
Now the movie left out a crucial point, which the author gave in his original fairy tale. The Tin Woodman had once been a real man, who had been in love with a beautiful maiden. It was his dream to marry her, once he could earn enough money to build them a cottage in the woods.
The Wicked Witch hated his love, and she cast spells upon the man that caused him injury, so that one by one his limbs needed to be replaced with artificial ones, made of tin. At first it seemed an advantage, for his metal frame allowed him to work nearly as powerfully as a machine. With a heart of love and arms that never tired, he seemed sure to win.
Notice, there was a man who was once real and alive and in love. But after a series of blows, his humanity was reduced to efficiency. He became a sort of machine – a hollow man. At first, he did not even notice, for his condition made him an excellent woodman, as any person can become productive like a machine when he forgoes his heart.
Baum’s mythic tale reminds us that the Enemy knows how vital the heart is, even if we do not, and all his forces are fixed upon its destruction. For if he can disable or deaden you heart, then he has effectively foiled the plan of God, which was to create a world where love reigns. By taking our your heart, the Enemy takes out you, and you are essential to the Story.
You’ll notice he’s been rather efficient.
How’s your heart today?
(Waking the Dead by John Eldredge, p. 36-38 )
