I watched Cinderella this week, really for one scene. It’s the one that happens after Cinderella’s dress is torn by her stepmother and stepsisters. This is the point when the fairy godmother appears, and all is made right. But before Cinderella embarks on her magical evening, the fairy godmother tells her words in the live action that have always resonated with me:

“For you shall go to the ball,” she says. 

And with that, the fairy godmother speaks over what has been spoken over Cinderella for years. Cinderella is whisked away and has the night of her dreams. She meets the prince, who plucks her out of the crowd so to speak, dances with her, charms her, and the rest is already written in fairytale legend. 

They are married; yes, the story ends in a grand wedding as the great fairytales tend to do, concluding with the famous words (and you know them): “…And they lived happily ever after.”

When I was watching, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus as the prince of the story, not because the prince was necessarily charming or strikingly handsome, but because he married a pauper into a kingdom. Sounds like the Gospel to me. 

Timothy Keller said that the greatest stories we know and love, the ones that “heal your heart a little bit,” contain traces of the Gospel story embedded in them. He reasons this is why they resonate with our hearts so much, and I have to say I agree. 

Because the older I get, the more I find that Jesus was the prince I’ve been looking for all along, who gave up his privileges for me. 

I think of that verse in Song of Songs, the book that many avoid and, I say with a smile, I understand why. “Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves,” it reads in Song of Songs 3:4. Some say this book is a representation of Christ’s love for the church, while others say it depicts just that: the love of a man and woman soon to be married. 

Either way, I think it demonstrates the consuming power of love. I believe the best form of love, as imperfect as it can be among us mere mortals, can point to Christ’s love—the life-changing, overwhelming, soul-structuring power of it, so strong it can shift the human heart and transform it into something completely new. 

Like that magical scene from the Cinderella movie, where she transforms from a servant into a princess. You know the one where the fairy godmother waves her wand, and Cinderella gazes and awes while her tattered dress is being changed into a gown truly fit for royalty. You know, they say this was Walt Disney’s favorite scene out of his animations, and I think I understand why. 

I believe this is the effect of Christ’s love as it takes a hold of our hearts if we let Him. 

It’s the kind of love that has the power to speak over generations to tell you what you truly are. That’s the kind of love I want to spend my life learning about, exploring, delving into. 

True love’s kiss that breaks every spell. 

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“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” - Ezekiel 36:26