The above is my favorite picture of Walt Disney. After outgrowing his backyard railroad and building Disneyland, here he is taking a walk through his beloved park.
I imagine this was taken in early morning, before the guests had arrived. The pavement is wet from a good cleaning. Hands stuffed inside his pockets, Walt had just walked through the drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle into Fantasyland. Though his mind was never at rest, always thinking of the next project, I sense there must have been a tremendous amount of satisfaction on these solo walks for what he had created.
I suppose the reason I “feel” this picture so thoroughly is that I’ve grown up with a father who not only built his own house, but is always imagining his next project. I see it in his eyes, really on his entire face, as he describes what he’s anxious to get to work on. A lot like Walt Disney, my dad has a mind bigger than his backyard.
This particular photograph hangs above Walt’s bench in the Opera House at Disneyland.
On a recent visit, I noticed something I’d never seen before in the photo. Placed in the highest turret of the castle is a cross. I hope this was done with intention and purpose, and it got me thinking, who do we build our own castles for?
The Bible has this to say about the personal castles that are built in each of our lives:
For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Hebrews 3:4
Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Psalm 127:1
Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice… Jeremiah 22:13
And by Christ’s own words, we are given this imagery in Matthew 7: 24-27:
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!
As we work on our own castles, let us remember that without God at the center of all that we do, without Jesus as the concrete, without the Holy Spirit as the light by our front door, we won’t withstand life’s beatings.
When the storms come, when the sun shines, my hope is to always say…as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)