“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien
“A safe fairyland is untrue to all worlds.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien
"If
you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want
them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ~Albert Einstein
We went to see Cinderella this weekend (well...it's been several weekends ago but I'm just now finishing this post). A classic fairytale with modern spice and the
gospel message bright as the colors of the screen.
A picture perfect family with a loving mother and
father. Broken by a ravaging disease. In her final moments this dying mother leaves
her beloved daughter simple yet profound words of truth. Be kind and have courage.
Be kind and have courage.
Together. United as one, forging
a powerful bond. I don’t know that I
ever really understood the significance of not having one without the
other. It’s so hard to be kind sometimes
especially in the face of anger or hurt or the bedlam befouling our day. And courage without kindness might just be a
vain pursuit of self glorification.
How important we see in the film that these two virtues stay
bonded together. They are what shape the
heart of the orphaned and abused little girl.
They are what capture the heart of the future kingdom.
As you know the story...Ella, the name bestowed on her at
birth, loses her mother and father and is left in the care of a heartless
selfish stepmother. She loses everything
dear to her including her room which she benevolently relinquishes and then is
forced up in the attic so her insufferable stepsisters can move into all that
she knew as home.
In her sadness she traverses the long trek up the many
stairs into the dusty desolate attic…where she discovers a place of
refuge. Away from the overwrought
atmosphere of egocentricity. Where
freedom dances in the dust.
Ella becomes a slave in her own home. Oppressed by those who were invited into her
life as a hope of bringing love and joy and blessings. But her heart beats the truth of her mother’s
words and she perseveres. She seeks warmth from the fire after a brutal day of labor and callousness and tenderly
falls asleep in the ash.
When she awakes to the calling and demands of her step-family…she walks in covered in soot.
It is a startling contrast to how the story began. And if I didn’t know how the story ended…I
might be tempted to think that darkness would crush this valiant spirit. For here is where they mockingly change her
name to the famous Cinderella.
Filth, hurt, and rejection ripple across her face, yet her
warm heart still glows beauty from within.
Broken but not defeated. She chooses
to fight…but not in the nasty way she receives treatment…she does not mirror
her offenders…she humbly stays true to her mother’s wisdom and clings to her
courage and walks in grace. For “Cinderella… compassion does not come easily; it
calls for grit and sacrifice.” -Katy Waldman
A picture of a broken heart.
Abandoned, afflicted and disregarded.
By the very ones who are supposed to love, protect and nurture her. And far too many tender hearts have been
pierced by these arrows.
For some the circumstances were of no control of their
own. Something terrible happened that
changed the course of their lives and they were ushered into a new world of
sorrow and sadness. Where the only
respite might be found alone and away from darkness looming in the ticking
hours of times current sweeping through the days. For others it is their choices that have
driven them from a life they could not accept as it was and in their own
efforts tried to fix it or run from it destroying so much of what was good.
Whatever the case may be…at some point…we all come to the
place where we see that life “was not as it was meant to be". And here in Cinderella’s story…it is clear
where she encounters this truth. And it
is here where the miracle really begins.
Where magic can really happen and true power is revealed. Through her humility.
And so she adheres to the words of her dying mother…her
promise to her mother…to live out these truths.
Be kind and have courage.
And she will need every bit of that truth to survive her hell. Or it will take her strait down with it.
She honors her mother.
She lives it out. In the face of
ridicule…in the face of mockery…in the face of cruelty. Those words keep her from being a true
prisoner. “She lives according to her
values and discovers happiness where others would be too unimaginative to look.”-Katy Waldman Her heart is free.
You see the callousness of her tormentors in contrast of the
grace in which she responds to them. And
she does not fall into the snares of revenge or hardness or giving her heart
over to be destroyed by it. This takes incredible
courage. Humility anchored in kindness empowers
her. She protects her heart from bitterness but not
from bruises and that makes all the difference.
One day Ella’s pain drives her out to the woods on the back
of her horse where she meets her prince…her love…her savior. And I love how it is written right there in
the script…right there on the screen…had it never been for the wickedness of
her stepsisters, she may never have been out in the country where her salvation
awaited.
It reminds me of one of my favorite stories in the Bible. In Genesis.
Where Joseph’s jealous brothers sold him into slavery. Years later their country was in peril from
the great famine and they traveled to Egypt to seek help. And to their great surprise and terror, their
brother was one of the ruling officials who they were asking help from. And in his years of slavery and imprisonment
and being away from his beloved father and home…he responds to them in the most
beautiful and humble of ways…"what you meant for evil, God meant for good." God used their wickedness to save His beloved people.
Evil does not have its way in this world. The Lord uses every single malicious deed…every single offense and calamity…every single crushed spirit and wounded soul…to
bring His goodness and His will and His purposes to be.
All we have to offer is our dirty rags…our botched up life...our
broken hearts. It is all we have to
bring. But our great God intends to
redeem it all. To accept us just as we
are. All cinder and soot, depraved
embers still burning and wayward intentions still blurred and abandoned and alone
and at the end of ourselves.
After the beautiful magical royal ball… the prince fervently searches
for Cinderella…and her heart is fixed on him.
For she has danced with him and tasted his goodness.
He comes for her. Searching
far and wide. And finds her just as she
is…cinder and soot. And he asks her her
name.
She answers Cinderella.
Not her birth name…but a name that maybe she had come to cherish. The cinders of time were burning and she had the courage to love anyway. To be
kind anyway. She had earned that name,
so to speak. It was a new her. A new creation. A beautiful one that had made her beauty glow
ever brighter because of all the darkness that surrounded her.
Then…one of my favorite parts of the movie…she asks him…will
you have me even though I am an orphan…even though I have nothing to give you
except rags and filth and brokenness. To
which without a flinch he embraces all that she is with all that he has and our
hearts melt. Because it is the desire of every single one
of us who knows the truth of who we really are and that we are hopeless without
a Savior Redeemer.
For her final act of courage she chooses kindness once again. Walking hand in hand with her heart’s true love…she
turns to her stepmother who has caused her the greatest pain in her life and
says “I forgive you”.
A moment she could have reveled and relished in and used as
a time to hurt back… but true to who she is, she forgives.
None of this looks easy for Ella in the story. You hurt for her and hope for her and feel injustice
for her.
But in the end…she is blessed beyond her wildest
dreams.
I have always wanted to live an “epic” life. A fairy tale, if you will. A life that means something. That makes a difference. That plays like a song of melodies awakening
truth in the deepest parts.
And Cinderella really hit it home for me. Where the “magic” in our life truly
happens. Where the ripples launch out
like ships in a sea carrying cargo to sooth hurting hearts.
True “magic” stems from humble beginnings. It’s
in the small moments of every day that we have that opportunity…that calling. To live in the greatness of life. The Grace of life. And it’s not about being pretty. It requires grit and sacrifice.
Simple and pure. Be
kind and have courage. Have courage to wade
thru the pain. Have courage to keep
giving and loving even when life turns dark.
Fight for what’s right and what’s good.
Even if the battle rages on without an end in sight.
I recently followed the story of a woman my age who had
cancer. I loved the title of her
blog. Mundane faithfulness. Her life was epic. Right there in her suffering.
Kara Tippetts selflessly poured her heart out to her kids
and husband and friends and then to a world where she bravely shared her story …in
hopes that it might spur another wounded warrior on.
She could have her own fairytale. She walked thru the hard with grit and grace.
She touched the souls of the afflicted and was a light in the darkness. Her words brought comfort and encouragement to
the weary. Living her life faithful to
what she had been called to. She walked
with meekness and beauty and you could see the magic happen.
The source of the magic…the true Savior…the Story that every
good story points to…is the real story of a Godchild wrapped in flesh who came
for us. To rescue us and redeem us and
make us new. Do you hear it? He’s calling you... "Come to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28
