My mom and I took the kids to see a puppet show of Cinderella at the Nashville Library yesterday.  It was so good, almost like a mini-musical.  The puppets were the old-fashioned kind on strings, marionettes.  They were a little creepy, but not too bad.  The evil Step-Mother kind of got to Emily and she buried her face in my shoulder for a while and asked to go home, but then the disco ball threw light all around the room and she got really excited.  This was when the Fairy Godmother was doing her magic and Emily told Elijah, "Look, it's on you!" because the lights were shining on his legs.  The audio was pre-recorded and the girl singing for Cinderella had a beautiful voice.  Like any good story, it had echos of God's story in it.  The thing that hit me first was when Cinderella was singing to her parents.  They are dead and she is singing up to the sky asking, "Father, do you see me?  Mother, do you know what's become of me?"  It was all I could do to hold back the tears.  It reminded me of Lamentations 1:9 which says, "Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her. "Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed."  Sometimes we just need someone to acknowledge our state of frustration/desperation/pain.  It's actually a pretty deep longing when you're hurting for someone to just SEE you. 

 

Then of course the slavery theme is strong in this story.  Both step-sisters are fighting over who gets Cinderella's help first and shouting, "She's mine!  No, she's mine!"  Then the Step-Mother comes in and tells all three girls to never forget that Cinderella belongs to her.  One thing I noticed was how the immature sisters were shouting and clamouring over her, but the step-mother was quieter, deeper, and much more authoritative.  I thought of sin and strongholds and how when you are young and immature, they are loud, crazy and wild.  But look at a person that's followed the road of selfishness for a lifetime, and the hold on them is deep, controlled and ominous.  Slavery doesn't stand still, over time it grows deeper into your core when you give it command over your life. 

 

Enter the Fairy Godmother.  She was childlike as well, but not in an immature, possessive way.  Her heart was to bless Cinderella and facilitate her dreams coming true.  She kept assuring Cinderella that she would make it to the ball, but when Cinderella pointed out all the obstacles, the Fairy Godmother would give her some small task that was within Cinderella's grasp and ask her, "Can you do that?"  To which she responded, "Yes, I can do that."  Isn't that just like the Lord?  I know my heart and I've had a line from a Toad the Wet Sprocket song running through my head the last few months that sums it up.  It says, "It's hard to rely on my good intentions, when my head's full of things that I can't mention."    Anyway, I see the glorious promise in God's word that I am destined to be Christ's Bride.  Then I look at the state of my heart and think, "Um, yeah right."  But then the Lord prompts me with some small way that I can be more like Him and walk a little closer to His ways, and I think yeah, I can do that.  I hate to even type that because I know how un-Christlike I am, and that if my kids had to pick my role in the story it would most likely be the Step-Mother.  But what is life without hope?  The story of Cinderella taps into the longing to rise up out of whatever your particular bondage is and be transformed into something beautiful and worthy of the Prince.  I also noticed at the end of the story when the Step-Mother tries to keep Cinderella hidden from the Prince, she has lost her grip on Cinderella.  Cinderella isn't afraid and cowering anymore, and in fact she is pretty oblivious to the orders coming from the Step-Mother.  Wonder why?  "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear ..."  1 John 4:18  I think that's beautiful and I just love how God weaves His story all around us.