Reclaiming Cinderella

It was the dress that did it, that amorphous meringue of blue chiffon embedded with a thousand stars. It swirled and billowed into creation, much like a parody of the birth of our universe. It emerged as a beautiful creation born from a torn and ragged gown, and it changed a girl’s destiny forever.

I am not usually a sucker for a fairy tale, but this cynical, old ex feminist, ex subversive thinker, now born again Christian is becoming softer in her old age. My sister was visiting, I was on holiday, I got a pensioner discount (one good thing about being 60 plus) and it was on my way home from a big day out drinking coffee, eating cake and catching up. A perfect ending to a lovely day.

The story drew me in. It was the typical fairy tale. A little girl born into a loving family is abandoned through the death of her mother and father into the care of a wicked stepmother and her daughters. The beautiful mother left her little girl with a goal for her life “have courage and be kind”. Now that’s probably a little useless, innocuous and ineffectual I thought. She would have been better to say, get an education, marry a nice bloke, maintain your looks, floss and don’t let anyone put your down. Soppy old Disney, and as her new future as a servant girl to her mean new relatives begins, her trial to maintain her identity is challenged.

Suddenly I saw it. She was given an identity as a child of parents who loved her. Her mother left her with a goal to achieve, a standard to live by. Her father thought he was leaving her with a loving step mother and siblings, but how wrong he was. He went off and died didn’t he. It made me realise that we as Christians are born into families where we have an earthly identity. We are the child of certain parents, the sibling of certain siblings. We have a family tree. We have an identity through our blood and DNA. We are given a family code of ethics to honour (or not honour) and we grow into the identity which is part of our heritage.

It is then that a great ‘dis connect’ can occur. Our lives may not be happy ever after; the promised prince, the castle, the dress and the lifestyle do not emerge, and we are left with broken promises and shattered dreams. Cliché’s I know, but happy ever after can be a shallow non event for many of us. Life is a tawdry travesty of a fairytale. Now I have not gone soft on you, but reality sets in. The castle of your dreams is full of spider webs and there is a sense of an evil usurper trying to thwart every decision you make to change your world for the better.

When we are born again, we are given a sparkling new identity. Our heavenly Father adopts us into his own family through the death of his own dear son, Jesus. We get to swap our tainted earthly DNA for the DNA of being heaven born. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.” 2 Cor 5:17. We are thus given a new identity, we belong, but we have an enemy who has come to “steal, kill and destroy” John 10:10, and his mission is to rob and derail us from our God given identity and purpose as we live out our lives as a believer.

The evil step mother (wonderfully played by Kate Blanchett), was like a type of the deceiver. She worked to destroy Cinderella’s identity, and to reduce her to the status of a servant. She herself was living out her own identity based on disappointment from her own damaged gender expectations.Belittling, undermining and mocking, she tried to break the young woman’s spirit. However Cinderella was made of sterner stuff. Determined to “have courage and be kind”, she refused to let her wretched circumstances rob her of her identity, as she endeavoured to perform her tasks with a good attitude,

She managed to find joy in the company of small creatures, and to be happy in her work. Cinderella worked hard to not become bitter in her situation. It made me think, even thought this was Hollywood at its best, that when we go through various trials, as James 1:2 reminds us, staying strong in various trials helps us to grow in endurance, to get some spiritual fortitude happening. We get some good strong muscles.

And then she meets the prince in the forest, and there is that instant connection. He longs to see her again and arranges the ball so he can find her in that whole kingdom of young women. It made me think of how in the Song of Songs the young man searches for his love throughout the land. It reminded me of how Jesus pursues us relentlessly. He draws us from whatever dungeon of despair we are buried in. He arranges a ball, but of course she is prevented from going, but in my analogy, God always finds a way. And in this fairytale, it’s the lovely fairy godmother that performs the magic to get her into the palace. This reminded me of how our sins are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), but when we are ushered into our kingdom identity, they fall away to leave us washed whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7) We are resplendent in our garment of salvation.

Then she is there, glorious in her gorgeous new gown, driven in a golden coach to the palace, and it’s all through the provision of her fairy godmother (who I saw as an analogy of the Holy Spirit, hope that’s not too crazy). As God’s children, we have to be ready to let our rags fall to the ground and allow ourselves to be dressed in the garments of heaven in order to move forward into our destiny, to find our own royal marriage. Of course the path of true love does not run smoothly, and she has to fight to find him, and he her, but the power of love and destiny cannot be destroyed. In spite of a room full of people, of distraction, of impediments, they find each other and love brings her forth into her full uniqueness of purpose, to be the bride of the Prince of Peace.

1 Peter 2:9 tells us “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” Yes we are royal, we are chosen, and we have a heavenly identity. We belong. We are loved. We are cherished. We might be sitting there in our pj’s and slippers like I am right now, but we are part of his royal family. We belong.

As we drove home, I knew I felt inspired to write a blog. We can find parables in the most mundane of tales, but fairy tales, where good triumphs over evil, where the one who struggles in the dust is lifted up into heavenly new realms can be an encouragement to both young and old. No I couldn’t get a glass slipper on over my bunion, but hey, but I can rock my frock, my gown of righteousness which is the gift he gave me in exchange for my tired old life. What a life. We live in the fairy tale. Be the princess or prince he created you to be. Get out of the rags and into your resplendent new life.