Last weekend, I saw the Barbie movie.

I’m not here to write a review, endorse a movie, or steer viewers away. I’m not that kind of writer. I just want to set the stage and show what got the wheels in my head turning.

As my girlfriends, sister, and I wore pink, laughed, and smiled, we were hit with a few different messages in the plot. You probably heard the political messages from both sides of the aisle. However, those weren’t the themes I left the theater pondering.

For me, I love characters. I adore a fantastic character arc where the star changes with the story and discovers new things about her or himself as the world around them also changes. I love watching the character’s first expectations morph into the truth they needed to realize all along.

I won’t spoil Barbie or Ken’s character arcs for you, but I will say that both have transformations that fascinate me.

When I was little, I was obsessed with Barbies, mermaids, playing dress-up, and the color pink. Girlie-girl to the max! To me, beauty looked like Ariel. Happily ever after ended with true love’s kiss and a prince whisking away the damsel in distress, and it definitely continued with them having lots of kids and money. I expected the future to look like what I saw and knew; whether it was from movies, books, or my family environment.

Just before middle school, I turned into a tom boy. I rejected pink for blue. I traded in my dresses for baggy jeans, and no longer saw myself as pretty. My view of a happily ever after never wavered though. So, as I grew and the world around me changed, I chose to ignore it by burying my nose in books and movies.

Like when Barbie hid her flat feet in perfect high heels, I hid my rising doubts of reality in false beliefs. I chose to ignore character development and wrestled to hold onto society norms, my parent’s apron strings, and the life I saw in fiction.

The people of Israel did the same thing in Luke chapter 3. They’d grown up expecting a savior (Messiah) to come and rescue them from the oppression of the Roman empire. This man named John (we call him John the Baptist) comes along and starts preaching and amazing everyone with his words. They’re expecting a great man, and they mistakenly think John could be him.

“Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ,” – Luke 3:15

John corrects the people in the next verse: “John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

I wish I could be so bold as to correct the false expectations of my former self. Or correct the people placing wrong expectations on me.

Like the impossible Barbie standards, sometimes we need to check our expectations with reality. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll actually find reality is far better than our false beliefs. In the end, Jesus can’t even compare to John the Baptist. Not only is He mightier and holier, He’s love, grace, compassion, and God himself. Yet, He humbled himself to let John submerge Him in water. The people expected a might king and warrior, but they got a humble carpenter. Subverting expectations yet again.

I look back on the girlie girl who wanted to be a mermaid, mom of 4, damsel in distress, missionary, actress, and all the things in-between. I look back and I’m glad reality changed me. Maybe it wasn’t at all what I expected. But maybe it’s better. Like Barbie discovering the complexities of being a woman, I’ve discovered life isn’t black and white. The ideas I had as a child weren’t necessarily wrong, but they did need to morph and grow. I can’t remain buried in books or rely on society’s norms. I want to be like America Ferrera’s character and boldly proclaim my passions and truth-filled beliefs.

I think Philippians 1:20 sums this up beautifully:

“It is my own eager expectation and hope, that [looking toward the future] I will not disgrace myself nor be ashamed in anything, but that with courage and the utmost freedom of speech, even now as always, Christ will be magnified and exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”

What expectations have you discovered to be fiction? What beliefs have changed as you grew? Have you discovered new revelations, or perhaps remained strong in your initial understandings? I’d love to hear your thoughts!