Last week I texted my daughter and asked if she would like to go see the new "Cinderella" movie with me. Boy was I surprised when she answered in the affirmative! Even though this new movie isn't really what you would call animated, my family loves to tease me because I enjoy movies like "Finding Nemo" and "Cars". It's been said that I wouldn't even allow our kids to watch a movie when they were younger unless there were at least talking animals in it! (Ummm....be prepared if you haven't seen this new "Cinderella". There might be a talking animal or two!)
So Sunday afternoon matinee here we came! The theater had only a few people in it when it was time for the show to start. And we were having such a good time talking that we didn't even notice when the screen was still dark 20 minutes after the show was supposed to start! I wasn't sure what to expect but I knew I loved Cinderella.
Growing up I had seen the Lesley Ann Warren version of "Cinderella" probably every time it came on. It was amazing! My heart ached for Cinderella when she was ridiculed and abused. And my heart soared as the glass slipper finally went on her foot, she was transformed, became a princess and lived happily ever after. But this new Cinderella. It was different.
I suspect Disney had no idea the life principles they were encouraging. Let me start at the beginning if I may. This Cinderella didn't start with Cinderella already living with her wicked step-mother and crazy step-sisters. It started with "Ella". A beautiful, full of life, happy and cherished little girl. She lived with her mother and father who adored her and each other. She was living a 'fairy-tale' of sorts already. Her mother, although never mentioning God or the Bible or Christianity, instilled in her godly principles. Other than the fairy-god-mother stuff (and that fairy-god-mother bippity boppity boo stuff is the only real nonsense I even saw in the movie), her mother taught her to always be kind and courageous.
Unfortunately Ella's world was rocked when her mother took ill and died. Her father, many years later and after much thought and Ella's blessing, married a widow with two daughters. This new woman took their quiet home and turned it into a house of feasting and parties and a life Ella's father never planned for her. Because his work took him away for months at a time, Ella was left with this woman and her nutty daughters. One day Ella answered a knock at the door. It was a neighbor coming to tell her that her father had died on his journey. Instead of getting upset, Ella thanked him and told him how hard she knew it must have been for him to deliver such news.
Immediately Ella's world was changed again. The household and farm staff, all of whom she had befriended, were let go. Ella had to take on all the chores and was banished to the attic to sleep and be away from the 'family' and be with her only friends, some mice she had conversations with and who seemed to talk back to her. (Oh and she had to save them from step-mother's cat Lucifer....appropriately named cat for sure!) Sometimes it was too cold to sleep up in the attic so she would bed down by the fireplace. One morning as she served breakfast her step-sisters teased her about the cinders she had on her face from the fireplace. Thus Ella became known as "Cinderella".
To keep from letting anger get the best of her, Cinderella rode off into the forest on her horse where she came upon a deer. Because of her kind spirit Cinderella was able to communicate with the deer and told him to hurry away as there were hunters coming to kill it. Then she stopped one of the hunters. Oh! Guess what! She had no idea who this hunter was but he was actually the handsome prince! He told her he worked as an apprentice at the palace but didn't tell her any more and she told him nothing of her life either.
The prince was immediately smitten with her of course or we wouldn't be coming up to the happily ever after. And then the ball was coming up....you know the one...where the prince would select his princess. It was really all planned out for him to marry royalty. But the prince had other ideas.
You know how the story goes at this point. Ugly step-sisters get new gowns. Cinderella tries to make her own from her mother's old one. Step-mother and step-sisters make fun of her and rip her gown to pieces. Fairy-god-mother steps in. Cleans Cinderella up, fixes her hair, repairs the dress and makes it the grandest of ball gowns. Coach of pumpkin. A goose she loved and fed who lived in the yard became the coach driver. And so on. She arrives at the ball. No one, not even the step-mother or step-sisters recognized her.
Ah but the Prince! Kit as she knew him from the forest. Kit recognized her and knew she was to be his Princess! You know what happens here so let's skip over to the glass slipper fittings. Cinderella's step-mother had become wise to her and figured out what was going on. She trapped Cinderella in the attic and told her how she had been a nice person when she was younger and how much she loved her first husband. But then he died and she married Cinderella's father, not for love but for a place to live with her daughters and a way to take care of them.
When it's discovered that Cinderella is locked in the attic (gotta leave some of this for you to see at the movie!) Cinderella is brought down to try on the glass slipper. And of course, it fits.....awwwww..... But here's the part that really amazed me. Instead of Cinderella magically turning into a princess like in the versions I had seen in the past, she stayed exactly the same. She asked the prince if he could accept her as she was. Of course he said he could and asked if she could accept him as he was. No magic. No bippity boppity boo. No hocus pocus. Just love. Just honesty. Just kindness. Just courage. Just truth. As Cinderella turned to leave, something even more amazing happened. She looked over at her step-mother and, no she didn't banish her to a far away country. She said three simple words. Words that, in addition to the take me as I am part, forever changed the way I viewed Cinderella. She simply looked at her step-mother and said "I forgive you."
In the last few weeks we've had a deer walk up to our front door and apparently nibble on our wreath. (It had snowed and we saw the hoof prints in the snow plus some flowers that were very secure on our wreath were pulled off. That makes us fairly certain that's what happened.) This week I noticed a bird had worked very hard to build a perfect nest in the spring wreath I had put up just a couple of weeks ago. So the attracting animals part of Cinderella I believe I am accomplishing. Not intentionally. But it does seem to be happening none the less. But the always kind, courageous and the way she forgave. Oh my. Now do you see why I want to be like Cinderella? Oh if it were as simple as a bippity boppity boo.
You know what? It kinda is. But it's really just a prayer away. Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for showing me this wonderful story this weekend! This story of kindness, courage and forgiveness. Thank You for showing me that good ALWAYS triumphs over evil even if it looks for a time like evil is going to win. Help me to be kind, courageous and forgiving. In Jesus Name I thank You. Amen
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