For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! ~ Romans 8:38-39
This is the heart and soul of Of Mermaids & Myrmidons. I’m SO excited to begin unpacking our very first story! The previous mini-series was merely to lay the groundwork; now, I get to share my true passion!
“Sleeping Beauty” was my favorite story growing up. Perhaps it was Aurora’s lovely blonde locks, or perhaps it was how much Prince Philip loved her and fought for her. Probably both. Either way, I wanted to be just like Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,” fairy friends and all.
And then I grew up – and made a mess of everything. I fell into my own “death-like sleep,” only to be re-awakened by Christ’s inexplicable love. It’s an on-going awakening, as He continues to splash His Grace over my past and redeem it completely.
What’s beautiful is that God fulfilled my childhood longing. I’m more like the Sleeping Beloved than I even knew.
The Sleeping Beauty we Know
We are most familiar with the stories from the 300-year blip, which include the versions by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. Those are the versions Disney used for their classic animation, and it was lovely and perfect just as it should have been. It was the Disney animation that Linda Woolverton used as her stepping stone to write the script for Maleficent, the latest spin on the age old tale. In her own words, this newest story didn’t reference “the original fairy tale” too much.[1]
Oh, but it did! And it is wonderful to see how God drew this particular story back to Himself. Like Woolverton’s Maleficent, the earliest versions of the Sleeping Beauty are dark. They are not children’s tales, but meant for those who’ve experienced heart wrenching pain. It deals with the loss of identity at best, and heinous acts of violence at worst.
And yet, in the end, the Sleeping Beloved is awakened by Love, and everything that had been lost is returned to her seven-fold.
God’s heart for His Beloved is to awaken her from the death-like sleep brought by pain and suffering. The pain of this world is mighty, and it will kill our hearts long before it does our bodies. We can choose to stay in our death-like sleep; or we can respond to the call of Love.
Through the Love of Christ Jesus, God gave us a way to overcome the pain and suffering of the world, and nothing – not even the worst acts of humanity – can separate the Beloved from the Lover.
Sources
[1] http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/linda-woolverton-maleficent/print/
