Hi, y'all! I'm Taylor and I blog over at Sufficient Grace. Brianna and Whitney are my little sisters and I love the vision they have for this website and this community of women. I am honored that they asked me to be a guest writer for the Return to Fairy Tales series! I'm excited to be sharing about one of my favorite fairy tale princesses and I hope y'all enjoy getting to know her as much as I did!
Snow White’s story begins much like Cinderella’s: a beautiful girl who has been forced into servitude by a jealous stepmother but has somehow avoided becoming embittered and entitled, eventually rising above her dismal situation when somebody sees the value of who she really is. In fact, at first glance, this fairy tale isn’t much different from that of Cinderella, which is why I think this story and princess often get overlooked.I have to be honest here. I was one of those who overlooked her! Until a little over a year ago, Snow White was probably my least favorite princess. I never much cared for the story of Snow White when I was a little girl. I didn’t find her beautiful like Cinderella, spunky like Belle, or mysterious like Jasmine; and I certainly didn’t think she had a voice like Ariel’s! I just really didn’t see what was so special about Snow White.
But in the fall of 2012, I started watching ABC's Once Upon A Time, and that's when I began to see the Snow White that Walt Disney must have seen when he decided to make this princess' story his first full-length film. Since getting hooked on this series, Snow White has become one of my favorite princesses.
Walt Disney told a simple story in his 1937 movie (which, by the way, is the highest grossing animated film of all time when adjusted for inflation). A princess by birth, Snow White has been stripped of nearly everything -- her mother, her father, and her rightful place in the kingdom. Instead of enjoying the privileges of royalty, she is forced to be a scullery maid, alone and isolated, while her evil stepmother rules her father's kingdom. Yet the girl remains unaffected and joyful.
Disney highlighted Snow White's inclination to see the good in people, her naiveté, and her hopeful spirit. But Once Upon A Time took these integral and admirable traits and gave her strength and compassion, resilience and delicacy -- all of which added such a depth to her character. But you know what else they gave her?
Forgiveness.
Once Upon A Time's Snow White knows how to forgive well and often. The best (but not only) example of this princess' forgiving heart is demonstrated in the climactic scene when she is faced with a man who has been sent to murder her on the Queen's orders. After temporarily escaping his custody, Snow White sits down to tearfully compose a farewell letter to her stepmother, ending it with "I forgive you."
Ladies, what a picture of Jesus!
He forgave the Jewish leaders who plotted to kill Him as well as the Roman soldiers who carried out His execution (Luke 23:34).
He forgave you -- and me -- for being a huge part of the reason He went to the cross.
And He has called us to walk in the same forgiveness. In His first recorded sermon, Jesus instructed his listeners, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" (Luke 6:27-28). When Peter asked how many times he was supposed to forgive, Jesus answered, "Seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:22).
Paul further exhorts us, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:31-32). I feel like this could have been Snow White's life verse!
So sisters, let's take a note from Snow White's book. Let us remember that God's forgiveness has cleansed us white as snow. Let us walk in that same forgiveness. Let us choose to let go of our hurts and failures. Let us rather cling to love, which keeps no record of wrongs.
Let us walk in the freedom that forgiveness brings.
-TL
"…though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow…"
Isaiah 1:18
"…as the Lord has forgiven you,
so you also must forgive…"
Colossians 3:13
No comments:
Post a Comment