Elizabeth and Cinderella

I spent a weekend at the lake with my family in August. Always a good time. Getting some sun, sleeping in (well, sort of), eating good food, water sports, etc. It's so weird to see my cousins getting older, listening to cooler music than me, having more relationship experience than me, and become better looking. When did that happen?

My youngest cousin, Elizabeth, is a beautiful, brown eyed, brown haired (haired?), spunky 4-year old. She's smart and funny and even a bit sarcastic. It's possible she also has more relationship experience than me, but let's not get depressed.

She is also very much in a "princess" phase. She wants to watch princesses, be a princess, play with princess Barbie, dress like a princess, and maybe even act like a princess. She asked me to sit with her and watch Cinderella, the Disney classic. If I turned my head for even a second to look at something other than the t.v. during the course of the movie I was reprimanded: "Lisa, watch!!" She was glued to the t.v., holding her Barbie, asking me to hold Ken, and we were to make the dolls mimic the cartoon characters. She was in it.

I love Cinderella as much the next girl, but it was fascinating to watch her fascination with the movie. How is it that a 4-year old girl can already be caught up in the fairy tale? From such a young age, she has bought in to the whole story hook, line and sinker. No wonder it can feel like we're single for such a long time. We've been waiting for Prince Charming (or Cinderella) since we were 4. That's 20 years for me!

I watched the film with a bit different perspective this time. A beautiful girl is hidden away by an evil power, with a beautiful heart, a true servant, that no one fully appreciates or even sees. Until...the day. When he sees her. Truly sees her. The way no one has ever seen her. He sees something in her, in a moment of true destiny, from across a huge room, and goes after her. He doesn't care what anyone thinks. He doesn't care if he's making a fool of himself. He's found her. He asks her to dance, she accepts, and she feels so sublimely happy that she isn't sure if she's dreaming. It's too wonderful. Too perfect. So she runs, because she is afraid.

But it doesn't matter. Because now that he's found her, he'll do anything to find her, to win her heart. He needs her to know that he is safe. He can be trusted. He'll send someone to every house in Colorado to find the pair of perfect feet, that will fit the perfect shoe, that belong to the perfect girl...for him.

Lord! No wonder we get so disappointed! Who could ever live up to that?

This time around, I realized that is exactly what Jesus does. He notices something valuable about us, despite our disheveled appearance, and asks us to dance. And he comes after us even if we run because we're afraid. I know it seems a bit cheesy to be all "Oh Jesus is my prince charming!". Annoying, but there is a bit of truth in it. He does see the value in us, despite our cleaning clothes, and he wants to dress us up and take us to the castle and live happily ever after. Maybe we just don't know a good thing when we already have it...