Labyrinth was a fantasy type movie created by Jim Henson in the 1980’s.
Labyrinth is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary in 2026.
I remember seeing that movie when it came out in 1986. Fantasy stories and movies are generally not a genre I like, however, there was something endearing about that movie.
The Goblin King had stolen the baby brother of the hero in the story. Sarah had to navigate an ever-shifting labyrinth to find and save her brother.
With the help of Henson’s puppet characters, Sarah made her way to the centre of the labyrinth where she confronted the Goblin King.
Sarah felt that fighting the Goblin King was a losing battle. Until she realized that she had been letting the Goblin King control her. “You have no power over me” was what she said to herself as she took control of her situation, saved her brother, and went home.
That line – you have no power over me – has stuck with me all these years. I have taken this to mean that when I feel helpless and afraid, I have been letting someone, or something, control me. I have handed them my power.
In the Bible, Jesus says that he has given us authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and that nothing will harm us.
We have authority. We should not let someone or something else control us. A person. Fear. Circumstances. Nothing.
These things have no power over us. Only if we hand it over.
When I was widowed for those 15 years and raising 3 kids by myself, I had plenty of opportunity to be afraid.
There was a “gentleman” from church who had very kindly offered to mow my lawn for me. We lived in a house on about 2 acres of land, so there was lots of grass to cut. Not something I could easily do with a newborn, a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. I was most grateful for this man’s help. He was retired and was my father’s age, so I expected he had time for that project, and it wasn’t inconveniencing him at all.
Over time, however, things with him became…. uncomfortable. He would make sexual comments, and show up at my house unannounced and uninvited to do tasks that weren’t really necessary.
I felt so oppressed by this that I actually considered moving to a smaller property in town so that I could manage cutting the grass myself. I discovered this was what letting someone else control me looked like. His creepy behaviour was leading me to look into uprooting my kids and moving to a different house, just to try and get away from him!
This was one of the times when the line from Labyrinth entered my mind. “You have no power over me.”
I abandoned my idea to move into town. I expressed to him my deep and sincere gratitude for all his help over the years, and said that as the boys were getting older, I wanted to try and manage the lawn myself. I had more time to mow, and I was teaching my oldest son how to mow, so we could manage on our own.
Mr. Lawncare did not like that. His response was very angry and mean, which only proved to me that his motives for helping us had tarnished.
Had I not stood in my power, using my authority over myself and my family, I don’t know how that situation may have deteriorated.
I’m grateful that I had been given authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and that nothing could harm me. I’m grateful that I realized Mr. Lawncare had no power over me.
Interestingly, because we took over mowing our own 2-acre lawn, one of my sons put himself through university by working at a golf course. Cutting grass.
