With her long, golden dress the little girl ran around with glee,a small, plastic tiara upon her head of blond hair.
In between her playing, she suddenly stopped next to her mom, took off her tiara and put it on her mothers head. Now you can be a princess too mommy, she said with joy. Watching all of this happen, I wondered what it is about fairy tales that children (and most adults too) love so much? My favourite movies are fairly tale, animation films like Shrek, Despicable Me and Nemo, to name but a few. C.S. Lewis once said, When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
Could part of the attraction be the adventure? All good fairly tales have a journey filled with numerous isolated, often unrelated, adventures along the way. Most of them involve overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of the hero or heroine getting to their final destination. The fire-breathing dragon blocking the rickety rope bridge, which is the only way across the deep, dark gorge to the castle. Or something similar. Most of these adventures or challenges seem insurmountable at first. There is just no way to beat this dragon and yet somehow it is done and on we go. I have never watched a fairly tale or read a fantasy novel, which have no obstacles along the way. If they exist they did not make the best-seller list.
Could the attraction of fairly tales be the fact that a common pauper becomes a prince? Or a beautiful princess finds her knight in shining armour, who fights all those dragons and trolls to rescue her from the dungeon? Not just anybody, but her.
Where dreams come true
Maybe the lure of all good fairly tales is all of the above, plus some more. They are filled with dreams that do come true. They are projections of our longing hearts, as CS Lewis also said. Most have beautiful far off places where troubles disappear with a wave of a wand or the flash of a sword. Finally, an important ingredient in all good fairly tales is that they all have happy endings.
Then life happens. We grow up and fairy tales lose their magic for us, because they all happen in never-never land. The tiara the little girl put on her mothers head was after all, just cheap plastic, not real diamonds set in pure silver. No real princess. Or am I wrong?
There is a story about a young orphan girl who grows up poor, with a life full of daily grind and hardships. People look down on her and see her as a nobody. Even some of her own family think she is only good for washing clothes and scrubbing floors. Then one day the king has a banquet. The prince is looking for his bride-to-be. Everyone is invited, but at first she doesnt realise this. To cut a long story short, she eventually goes to the banquet and there meets her prince charming on the dance floor. Things go wrong and she runs away, but her prince comes looking for her and finds her. And they live happily ever after. Heard this story before? No, its not Cinderella. In fact, its not even a fairly tale – it is a true story. Youll find it throughout the pages of the Bible. Its our story.
Jesus, the prince of the universe, came to this earth for each one of us. He chose each one of us personally (Ephesians1:4; 1 Thessalonians1:4). He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). No doubt, we will still have problems and difficulties. There will still be many dragons along our lifes path, but be of good cheer and have peace in your heart, because Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33; Luke 11:22). He has slain the dragons for us. He has rescued us from the dungeon. The king of the universe has prepared a great banquet and he has personally invited each one of us (Luke 14:16). Even those of us who feel poor and blind and incapable of making it through this life (Luke 14: 21).
Our prince in shining armour
We are all princes and princesses. We are not nobodies, we are the children of the king of the universe, the living God (Ephesians1:4-5,11).Ours is an election assured and Jesus has promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews13:5).
In all fairly tales there are times when the hero is just too tired to carry on and ready to give up. This happens in real life as well, just in case you didnt know. Please understand that I am not making light of the hardships and heartaches many people have to face each day. It is no joke. It is real and hard to bear.But it is even more true and real that at times like these we need to hang onto the promises of Jesus (our prince in shining armour).
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew11: 28).Not even in fairly tales will you find this kind or rest.
But what about the ending? Do we all live happily ever after? Well, it wouldnt be a great story if it didnt have a happy ending. In fact, when you really understand Gods plan for us, you will see that it is even more fantastic than the wildest fantasy tale. One of my favourite sections in the Bible is found in Revelation chapter 21. It is a sneak glimpse of the ending to the story. Read the whole chapter, its beautiful. We will be his people and God himself will be with us and be our God. He will wipe away all our tears, and there will be no more death, or sadness, or crying or pain. For the former things will have passed away (Revelation 21:3-4).
and we all lived happily ever after.
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