harry potter

to anyone who knows me, it's no strange fact that i like my fantasy. i just love the imperfect metaphors relating to the real world about love and life. i've read all the harry potter books each summer for the last couple years. i just finished re-reading them again, and now i'm attempting to watch all the movies through as well. i just watched the second movie (hp and the chamber of secrets) with my friend becky, and throughout the movie we attempted to figure out what we would be like if we lived in this fantasy world. for example, we wondered what our polyjuice potions would taste like (an enemy of harry potter's tasted like bogie), and we wondered what our patronuses would be (an animal that is formed to ward away creatures that suck the happiness out of you).

the most important question, however, was which house we would be placed in. the hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry where harry attends is split into four houses. here are how they are described by the sorting hat:

You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a steady mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were
Most worthy of admission;
And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.

For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor,
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,
And taught them all she knew

harry belongs in gryffindor, and obviously all harry potter fans also wish that they would belong in gryffindor as well.

the truth is that i know i would belong in hufflepuff: "she took the rest." hufflepuffs unfortunately get a bad rap because they're really not good at anything.

so i was trying to make a case for myself as to why i should be in gryffindor, but i couldn't come up with anything. the biggest reason being that i'm not bold and brave for what i believe/the core of who i am. i hate discord. i want people to like me. but that is not taking a bold stand for Christ.

in november i was put in a position where i could easily have shared my faith, but instead i listened passively to my God being mocked. it ended with me going up to my room and crying. not quite worthy of a gryffindor.

the good thing is that people can change. the headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, told a member of his staff, Snape, that he believed they sorted too soon. Snape had been in slytherin when he had attended hogwarts, but as an adult he performed wonderful feats of courage out of love for another.

i pray now that when another chance comes to share my faith (and it already has), that i will be bold and brave, and i will tell about the love of the one who created me.