Fighting Dragons
G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." This statement resonates with more truth than a human can explain or express. It has always been a favorite quote of mine.
Fairy tales have long been a favorite escape of mine. Whether they are Disney's re-tellings or dusty old books full of stores, I love fairy tales. My favorite was always Sleeping Beauty. It still is. The idea of a princess, cursed, asleep in a tower while one brave Prince fights his way through difficulty to break the curse and rescue her resonated deep in my heart. It still does. People always told me (and still do) that a prince would be willing to fight for me, that he'd fight hard to overcome things to win my heart. Just like Prince Philip in Disney's Sleeping Beauty fought off the Evil Malificent/Dragon. I grew up hoping for that. For a prince to fight for me.
Time has passed for my little girl heart and it's dreams. I haven't met one yet. No Prince Philip in real life fighting dragons, cutting through thorny paths to rescue this cursed princess. I've been asleep, not really knowing that I was even a princess. Maybe I knew I was a princess, but I certainly wasn't living it. I've only encountered pretend knights decked out in tinfoil rather than armor that ran when the slightest difficulty arose....There have been a few knights in real armor that I've seen, but they're not willing to fight for me. Other girls have been worth the fight, but not me.
Whatever the reason might be, no man has yet. Some say I'm intimidating. Some say I'm "too much woman." Some say I'm "not enough" something...woman, good, etc. Some say "you're not what I'm looking for." Some simply give no explanation and make no effort at all. All of these things...they wound the core of my poor cursed and broken princess heart. I think that's why it slept. It's less painful to be told these things when you're close to dead on the inside. What I know is that every single one of them has run away, abandoned me or not even tried.
A few years ago, Disney took the classic fairy tale and turned it on its head. In the movie, "Enchanted," a Disney princess finds herself thrown into real life, where she meets a very non-prince in modern day New York City. The movie climaxes with Giselle discovering real love with her non-prince and the evil witch becomes a dragon. In old fairy tales, it was always the prince who fought this dragon valiantly. In this movie, it's Giselle, empowered by her love and incredible heart, who picks up the sword and fights and vanquishes the Dragon.
I understand her. In the real world, there is no prince to come fighting the dragon. She's left to defend her love, her life and her future and she does so with all the bravery, spunk and hope that her beautiful heart can muster. She wins.
In my life, I'm waking up to my own beautiful heart. From my own real-world nightmares into living. And you know what, I may not have much hope left that there is a Prince Philip who's willing to or able to fight through a Dragon for me...or even with me (much preferable). But I do know a Prince - who overcame the GREATEST difficulties and has already vanquished the greatest dragon of all for me. Thousands of years ago....on a cross.
My wonderful Prince of Peace took hold of death, sin and all of the horrible ugly in this life and destroyed it in his death and resurrection. He did that for me, because His love is more than the love of any. And He is mine, and my heart is fully His. Psalm 74:13 says, "Thou didst break the sea by thy strength, Thou brakest [sic] the head of the dragons in the waters." (KJV) He has done this already. Genesis 3 states that the Savior would crush the head of the serpent - to reconcile and bring to peace us cursed humans. It was done on the cross when Christ said "it is finished." Paid in full.
He did that to bring us to Peace. He did that so that with Him, because He is for us, we can be more than conquerers (see Rom. 8) and fight our own dragons. The last months have seen me waking up to that conquering. I'm seeing my own 'dragons' fall, towers break and victory become mine...I'm fighting my own dragons, thank you very much. I wouldn't be able to without Christ's victory which became mine.
So bring on the Dragons. I've got a Prince who vanquished the greatest Dragon of all, everything else is just a lizard. I'm going to keep believing in fairy tales, and let my Valiant Prince of Peace give me all I need to defend myself as He continues to vanquish every single dragon that comes my way. It's already my victory anyway.
Fairy tales have long been a favorite escape of mine. Whether they are Disney's re-tellings or dusty old books full of stores, I love fairy tales. My favorite was always Sleeping Beauty. It still is. The idea of a princess, cursed, asleep in a tower while one brave Prince fights his way through difficulty to break the curse and rescue her resonated deep in my heart. It still does. People always told me (and still do) that a prince would be willing to fight for me, that he'd fight hard to overcome things to win my heart. Just like Prince Philip in Disney's Sleeping Beauty fought off the Evil Malificent/Dragon. I grew up hoping for that. For a prince to fight for me.
Time has passed for my little girl heart and it's dreams. I haven't met one yet. No Prince Philip in real life fighting dragons, cutting through thorny paths to rescue this cursed princess. I've been asleep, not really knowing that I was even a princess. Maybe I knew I was a princess, but I certainly wasn't living it. I've only encountered pretend knights decked out in tinfoil rather than armor that ran when the slightest difficulty arose....There have been a few knights in real armor that I've seen, but they're not willing to fight for me. Other girls have been worth the fight, but not me.
Whatever the reason might be, no man has yet. Some say I'm intimidating. Some say I'm "too much woman." Some say I'm "not enough" something...woman, good, etc. Some say "you're not what I'm looking for." Some simply give no explanation and make no effort at all. All of these things...they wound the core of my poor cursed and broken princess heart. I think that's why it slept. It's less painful to be told these things when you're close to dead on the inside. What I know is that every single one of them has run away, abandoned me or not even tried.
A few years ago, Disney took the classic fairy tale and turned it on its head. In the movie, "Enchanted," a Disney princess finds herself thrown into real life, where she meets a very non-prince in modern day New York City. The movie climaxes with Giselle discovering real love with her non-prince and the evil witch becomes a dragon. In old fairy tales, it was always the prince who fought this dragon valiantly. In this movie, it's Giselle, empowered by her love and incredible heart, who picks up the sword and fights and vanquishes the Dragon.
I understand her. In the real world, there is no prince to come fighting the dragon. She's left to defend her love, her life and her future and she does so with all the bravery, spunk and hope that her beautiful heart can muster. She wins.
In my life, I'm waking up to my own beautiful heart. From my own real-world nightmares into living. And you know what, I may not have much hope left that there is a Prince Philip who's willing to or able to fight through a Dragon for me...or even with me (much preferable). But I do know a Prince - who overcame the GREATEST difficulties and has already vanquished the greatest dragon of all for me. Thousands of years ago....on a cross.
My wonderful Prince of Peace took hold of death, sin and all of the horrible ugly in this life and destroyed it in his death and resurrection. He did that for me, because His love is more than the love of any. And He is mine, and my heart is fully His. Psalm 74:13 says, "Thou didst break the sea by thy strength, Thou brakest [sic] the head of the dragons in the waters." (KJV) He has done this already. Genesis 3 states that the Savior would crush the head of the serpent - to reconcile and bring to peace us cursed humans. It was done on the cross when Christ said "it is finished." Paid in full.
He did that to bring us to Peace. He did that so that with Him, because He is for us, we can be more than conquerers (see Rom. 8) and fight our own dragons. The last months have seen me waking up to that conquering. I'm seeing my own 'dragons' fall, towers break and victory become mine...I'm fighting my own dragons, thank you very much. I wouldn't be able to without Christ's victory which became mine.
So bring on the Dragons. I've got a Prince who vanquished the greatest Dragon of all, everything else is just a lizard. I'm going to keep believing in fairy tales, and let my Valiant Prince of Peace give me all I need to defend myself as He continues to vanquish every single dragon that comes my way. It's already my victory anyway.
I love this...as I started reading, my heart hoped that you would realize that you do have that Prince who fights for you- and you do, and for that I'm so thankful and proud.
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