Over the years I have come to love the film and Broadway play, “The Man of La Mancha”. Who can’t help but sing “to dream the impossible dream…”? It’s the story of a play within a play. Creativity. Imagination.

In the inner story, Don Quixote and his sidekick, Sancho, come upon an inn, a castle through Don Quixote’s eyes. Aldonza is a waitress and prostitute at the inn. Her names means sweet, but life has left her anything but. She is hardened, brash. Don Quixote sees her as a beautiful princess, a lady, named Dulcinea. It’s interesting that Dulcinea means “sweetness”. His kindness to her hurts more than the abuse of the men.

As the story comes to an end, Aldonza’s dress and appearance has changed. She is talking with Sancho and declares her name is Dulcinea. I apparently remember a scene I cannot find in the movie. It’s toward the end of the film and Aldonza is told to go back to her job at the inn. She turns and says boldly, “My name is Dulcinea.” She accepts the identity given to her by Don Quixote.

One of the reasons I so love this story is because it reminds me of me and Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature”. From the moment I confess faith in Jesus Christ, He sees me as a new creation. I too often see myself the way I’ve always been or by what people have called me. Bruce Wilkinson wrote a book a few years back called, The Prayer of Jabez. It is a study of a prayer by a man in the Old Testament. His name means affliction. What struck me was the last part of his prayer, “that You would keep me from harm that it might not pain me.” I felt like Jabez was saying, “Let me not be what people have called me all my life.”

Who in your life has seen beyond the scars, the hurt, the reputation and called you out to something greater? Who, Dulcinea, is your Don Quixote?