Zellandine

sleeping beloved

The Sleeping Beloved Saga

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper as his complement.”  So the LORD God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found as his complement.  So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place.  Then the LORD God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.  And the man said: “This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ’woman,’ for she was taken from man.” ~ Genesis 2:18-23

I wanted to end my Sleeping Beloved saga where we began.  It was a cyclical journey, after all…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Maleficent Restored

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” ~ Genesis 50:20

And here we are, ending at the beginning.  Once more, this post contains spoilers from Disney’s Maleficent – so proceed with care!

Maleficent is no longer the villain we love to fear from the animated classic.  Her heart has shed its masks and been drawn to the call of its savior.  She has remembered who she used to be, before tragedy struck: a warrior-lover, a battle-maiden intent upon protecting that which she loves…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Maleficent’s Awakening

Again, this post contains spoilers of Disney’s 2014 Maleficent.

Like in the animated film, the three good fairies raise Aurora as a peasant girl.  Although well-meaning, they’re a rather incompetent bunch.  They have no idea how to care for a baby, and the poor thing is constantly crying because of their neglect.

Even Maleficent cannot withstand the heart-wrenching cries of a babe in true distress…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Maleficent’s Dignity

“Let us tell an old story anew, and let us see how well you know it…”[1]

This post contains spoilers…so if you don’t want Disney’s 2014 Maleficent  ruined, you should stop reading and watch it before you continue.  Otherwise, proceed.

I love this opening line from the movie.  It evokes a timelessness as the disparate tales of the Sleeping Beloveds are woven together.  And I don’t think man meant to weave it together, either…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Phillip: A Better Troylus

It’s written in our hearts to long for a Warrior-Lover.  We long to be worth fighting for, to be worth the struggle.  It’s also written in our hearts to be a warrior-lover for someone else – to fight passionately for our beloved, no matter the cost.  We want to be both the beloved and the warrior-lover, and in God’s story, we get to be.  He is our Warrior-Lover, who saw us as worth fighting for, even unto death.  Likewise, after experiencing such lavish love, we are called to be warrior-lovers to those around us – to show them the same love shown to us.

And yet, we don’t always feel like we have a Warrior-Lover, and often we fail to be warrior-lovers ourselves…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Aurora: The Second Zellandine

I’m not sure if Disney intended to make Aurora a second Zellandine.  I like to think he did.  He was a master storyteller, after all; and the fact that he sets the tale in the 14th century – the century in which Perceforest was written – hints that he was at least referring to Zellandine.   

Six hundred years separate Zellandine and Aurora, and yet they are incredibly similar…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Awakening Hearts: From Zellandine to Talia

The only love that can truly awaken your heart is the love of Christ, to which the Sleeping Beloved saga is an allegory.  Each of our versions covers an aspect of the awakening heart.  Zellandine’s story tenderly depicts the emotional journey of a survivor of violence.  We saw how nothing – no terror, no pain, no abuse – could ever separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:35-379), and that His love is able to redeem all things (Isaiah 61:1-3). 

Because Zellandine’s story deals with the emotional journey of a survivor, it is timeless.  Our next heroine, Talia, is far more at home in the Medieval and Renaissance periods.  She speaks for a culture quite alien to us, a culture where women didn’t have a say and had to find contentment without love.  We saw this to a certain extent in Zellandine’s story; it is more pronounced in Talia’s…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Zellandine Restored

Last week we left Zellandine bereft, but choosing to be a survivor.  A part of her heart was missing, though, for how could she forget her lost babe? 

No mother can forget her child, yet God tells us it is more likely for a mother to forget than for Him to forget (Isaiah 49:15).  God did not forget Zellandine’s distress – and He has not forgotten yours.  Christ’s coming is evidence of this.  He came to heal, to free, to comfort, to restore.  We may not understand why evil things happen, but we know God does not condone sin and that one day all will be restored.  If not in this life, then in the next. 

While we wait for restoration, life goes on, as Zellandine’s did…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Zellandine’s Choice

I didn’t want to write this blog post.  It felt too risky, too vulnerable.  I’m frightened someone will misunderstand what I’m saying, or they’ll take it out of context.  But I felt compelled to speak out for Zellandine in this matter; after all, she speaks for me in so many ways.  

Zellandine still loves Troylus and she chooses to run away to Britain and marry him.  This is perhaps the most controversial portion of the story to the modern mind.  How can she do this?  Why does she do it?…

By , ago
sleeping beloved

Zellandine the Survivor

I am still amazed at the tenderness with which the author depicts the emotions of a survivor of violence.  He captures the moment when the choice to be a survivor is made, and yet shows how that choice  is a constant struggle.  For as any survivor will tell you, shame and fear and secrecy are hallmarks of the continuous battle.  

The Enemy strives to have us define our identities by our circumstances.  Like Zellandine, our identities are assaulted in many ways.  The harsh words of a loved one, the disdain of peers, the emptiness of being alone…or perhaps you, like Zellandine, are a survivor of violence.    

We cannot control our circumstances, but we can control our reactions.  We have a choice: to become hard or to become strong.  You must not confuse the two…

By , ago