Ever Wish You Were in Harry Potter? Your Story Is More Like That Than You Think…

There’s something ridiculously captivating about the Harry Potter story.

Even if you don’t like it, you have to admit you’re bamboozled at how it’s created such a massive following.

There’s a friggin’ theme park, for crying out loud.

I mean, there has to be a reason it strikes such a strong chord with tens of millions of people…right?

What is it about this story that causes so many people to obsess over it, to wish we were in it, to immerse ourselves in this wondrous wizarding world?

The reason is simple:

Harry Potter hits on something we were made for.

Let’s look at what’s happening here:

• We’ve got a kid who’s mistreated and forgotten, who feels powerless and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. (Sounds familiar.)

• All of a sudden, this kid is pulled into an amazing new world where so much more is possible than he never new existed—and he realizes he’s talented at wielding these new magical powers.

• Not only that, but he realizes he’s extremely important in this new world. His life has a very clear new purpose. He becomes the chosen one.

• Then he discovers an enemy that needs vanquishing. He’s asked to be a hero, and told he has amazing potential—and that there’s a promise over his life (a prophecy) to defeat the villain and save the world.

• He enters into a community of people who value his gifts, and he fights alongside his friends for something bigger than himself.

All that is really intoxicating to me.

If we’re honest, we wish our lives could be more like that story.

But sadly, it often feels hopelessly out of reach in real life—doesn’t it?

I read the first 3 Harry Potter books in middle school, when I stayed quiet and unknown and out of the way. No sense of purpose, no excitement, no part of something bigger. A very different narrative.

It’s no wonder I charged through the hallways of my middle school, reading my book with absolutely zero sensory acuity, running into doors and teachers…

Because I longed to live a story like that.

(Also, 15 years later, I still have no sensory acuity.)

But the more I’ve pressed into how God made me, the more I’ve realized something:

God made you and me to desire the stories we desire on purpose—because we were made to embark on a similar story.

God pulls us into an amazing new world, and starts unlocking the truest version of us—who we were meant to become.

God gives us importance in his plan to save the world. We fight a real adversary. And He calls us to fight alongside our friends for something bigger than ourselves.

It’s shockingly similar to the stories that go viral in our culture.

It makes sense though…If God truly is all you need, then somewhere in Him, your deepest desires can actually be met fully. Right?

That must be why Elizabeth Dreyer says, “One can begin one’s spiritual quest by attending to the desires of the heart, both personal and communal. The Spirit is revealed in our genuine hopes for ourselves and for the world.”

God often uses our real desires as a megaphone to say, “You can get the perfect version of this in a relationship with me.”

What’s He saying to you through the books and movies that awaken your desire?

Listen.

Feel those desires.

And let God use them to pull you into a more beautiful adventure with Him than you ever thought possible.