Don't ever stop...

Do you remember?  Just close your eyes and think back to it.  That feeling you had when you watched your most favorite princess movie.  You were that princess! For that moment, you sang like her, you looked like her and the Prince wanted you! You were his prized possession.  That perfect, feel-good song would come on.  You remember it! It would come on and you had to stand up and try your very best to do exactly as the princess did as she sang it.  She would walk, you would walk.  She would raise her hands in the air while her hair flowed in the wind and her long flowing dress would sway around her perfectly...your homemade creation would do the same (or at least  you thought it did)!

For me, this most memorable moment was the Little Mermaid.  She was absolutely perfect! Still is!  Come on, nothing can compare to that full red hair that never messed up in the water.  She was in love with one of the most handsome princes and most of all, she had THE BEST voice!  Oh, I can remember singing her songs over and over and doing my very best to sound just like her.  It was a goal of mine.  An obsession even, Maybe! If you were a child of the 80s and early 90s you know you would reenact that famous moment when Ariel sang "Part of your world" and lifted herself so magically on the rock in the water.  I know you are smiling now because you remember it! In the bath tub, in the pool, wherever you could do it and the water would fling up all around you making you look just like the princess that she was!

I loved every minute of those days! I've been told I was a bit (or a lot) dramatic and I am sure I was and am but there was something really special about the feeling of being something fantastic.  Being someone really special and really beautiful. Well, we all know what happens after that...we grow up. We become adults who have bill, dishes, laundry.  We get married, get a career or both.  Some of us become mommies and then some of us feel like that is all we are anymore...Mommy!  There really is not time to be Ariel, Jasmine or Cinderella anymore (unless you count Cinderella before her prince came!! ).  Somewhere in there we had to realize that was all make believe. As amazing as your love story may be, most likely it doesn't end happily ever after every day.  I know for sure that my hair doesn't look like Ariel's in the water or out and there is no more throwing myself up at the end of the bathtub while I sing "Part of your WOOORRRLLLDD".  Quite honestly, it makes a big mess of water puddle that is just one more thing I have to clean up!   

I have two girls. If you know me or have read my previous blogs you know this. Mackenzie is three weeks away from being 5 and Ember is 3 (I have an 8 month old son now too but that is for another blog).  I really don't know if you can find more girly and imaginative little girls.  They dress up almost every day.  Their daddy ended up making them a dress up station a couple of years ago because they were wearing their princess dresses more than their own clothes! They love to sing, dance and pretend.  Many days they will be several different princess and characters which causes much confusion when I am doing my best to call them by the right name at the right time.  "no mommy, Ember is not here. I am Cinderella!"  They make several wardrobe changes a day and there are many times we have informed children church staff of the name of the day for one or both! 

This week My husband and I could not wait to buy the newest Disney movie for them, Frozen ( or Frosty as they call it). With our move and having a son several months old we were never able to get to the theater to see it with them.  They knew all about the princesses of course, without seeing it.  I have no idea how they did but they did. We all sat around very excited to watch it together and yes, I was into it just as much as they were. I honestly think Disney has some crazy way of adding magic to their movies and it captures you, young or old! They laughed, they cheered and Mackenzie even cried.  They enjoyed every minute of it.  Then came the next day!  I woke up to hearing " No I am Queen Elsa!"  "No I am!"  They had already taken on the characters! This was 3 days ago and it has only become a bigger deal in our home.  We have watched the movie now at least once a day and the songs are beginning to become a little too familiar! No matter what they put on from their closet at the start of the day, they end up in their "frozen" clothes for the remainder of the day and tonight while watching the movie yet another time, instead of hearing how Elsa did this or oh no, Anna died I heard "oh no, I died" and " oh look at me, I'm so sad!" THEY were the princesses now! It is just too funny to me.  What got me though was when the famous song "Let it Go" came on. Without any hesitation, each girl got up on their feet.  They sang their hearts out with arms in the air, hair flowing in the wind and dresses swaying...Just like I used to. It was a site all too familiar. I watched them with tears in my eyes admiring every second of a memory being made in front of me that I knew would last a lifetime because I made that same memory many years before. I too stood there next to my sister with all the dreams in the world of a beautiful fairy tale one day.  As the song ended my heart grew sad though. I realized that they too one day would have to realize it was all make believe.  There is no fairy tale. Just life and heartaches.  Yes, many wonderful memories to be made and hopefully a wonderful husband with beautiful children awaited them in their future but not the same as being a princess that sang and twirled and just had all the cares in the world lifted off of her!  

While doing dishes later after my princesses drifted off to sleep, God brought this back in my heart.  I was reminded of the way He sees my life.  I was reminded, there is a fairy tale awaiting me.  This isn't the end! I am a princess of the one true King.  The only King who rules EVERYTHING!   I have a Prince who is waiting to take me as His bride! A perfect Prince who can not disappoint.  No Disney fairy tale can compare to what the Bible says about my future in Heaven.  We can't even comprehend it.  So, while they are still young and their little minds and eyes are still dreaming up all the possibilities, I can use this time to lead them to falling in love with the Ultimate Prince, lead them to finding out more about the most fantastic Romance!  I can show them and lead them by example.  "In this life you will have trouble but do not lose heart, I have overcome the world." That is my Prince! Think about it. No Disney Prince Overcame the WHOLE WORLD! No Prince died for every sin the princess ever committed; past, present or future.  No Prince ever gave eternal life.  Mine did! Why then am I not twirling and singing? Why did I stop?  I have a prince, I have a hope, a dream that is being molded and shaped and revealed every day.  Where did my passion go? He never lost His Passion for me.  Wow, just wow!  So, tomorrow I will wake up a princess once again....Let the singing and dancing begin!