“If you could be a fairy, what would you make?”

I smiled when my little sister asked me.  It was her way of phrasing the popular question, What superpower would you have?

“I would want healing,” I said.  “So I could just touch someone who was hurt or sick, and they would be better.”

Little sister giggled.  “Like Jesus.”

“Yes,” I agreed, “like Jesus.  What kind of fairy would you be?”

“I would be a world-fairy.  I would make fairytale worlds.”

“I’d like to visit them,” I said, thinking, Also like Jesus.

She asked what “kind of fairy” she could be that people would like.  I suggested she made food, people always need food; before realizing that was like Jesus too.

What’s the appeal of magic in fairy tales?  What if we like magic and wizards and superheroes because we’re craving something (or someone) that can set the world to rights?  Craving someone–or Someone–who can make our stories like the stories in the Bible.

I am a great advocate for magic in stories.  Not sorcery or witchcraft, or summoning spirits–not the kind of things humans do because they want control.  I’m a fan of wizards like Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings): supernatural beings working to make the world a better place.  I’m a fan of dragons like Sapphira (The Inheritance Cycle): beautiful, untameable creatures tapping into ancient power to make things right.

I believe in stretching our imaginations in ways that help us imagine heaven on earth.

Because one day that happy ending will be ours.