Putting Fairy Tales to Shame

Maybe you weren’t the type of little girl who dressed up and played wedding games. Maybe you wanted to be the strong, valiant heroine. Your imagination took you to a place of sweeping into a scene of distress to save the hundreds in danger. This consisted of outrageous adventures and battles to the death. And it always ended with the people looking up to you in adoration. This is where both the bride and the heroine’s stories collide. The ending always involved appreciation, passion, and devotion. Whether you were the one saving or the saved, you always ended up being loved. As women we all desire to be completely romanced into a world of overflowing joy and acceptance. Our hearts will not be full in the least bit if it’s not being poured into with love. We yearn to be viewed as beautiful and to be treasured unconditionally and irrevocably. This is no ordinary love. And we’re not the only ones who crave it. By creating women, God was sending the world a message. In her book, Captivating, Stasi Eldredge explains, “Whatever it means to bear God’s image, you do so as a female… Your feminine heart has been created with the greatest of all possible dignities – as a reflection of God’s own heart.”1 If our hearts are to reveal a piece of God’s essence to world, our need to be loved flows from God’s own longing to be loved. Genesis 1:27 should teach us so much about our vast value and magnificent identity: “So God created man in His own image” (ESV). This wondrous, celestial Being cascading with brilliant color and power not only interlaced our bodies, but warmly and generously made us like Him! Just as children inherit traits of their parents, features of our Heavenly Father are weaved within our being. In Genesis 5:3 it even reads that Seth, Adam’s Son was “a son in his [Adam’s] own likeness, after his image” (ESV). Our desire for acceptance and adoration is not a weakness as some speculate, but an inheritance and a gift! It is an honor to be like our Creator. And we only have an earthly amount, a glimmer, of that longing abiding in us. His longing to be loved is so strong, that He gave you the only Son He had by sending Jesus into this world. He sacrificed His deepest treasure, just so that we would open up our hearts to Him. Jesus not only died, but swept in and saved you from the depths, so that you may have life and joy forever. That day on the cross, He wanted to see your face light up. He wanted to watch you dance. He wanted to smile as you sing. Above all, He wanted to live close with you always. I know this not from my own internal knowledge, but from His Word. The book of the Bible isn’t one of regulated rules. It’s a historical story, a book to mirror to His beloved how much He loves us and how radically He yearns for us to love Him in return. This is why we search for love. This is why when we see that guy, we want him to “like” us. This is why we set aside hours to do our hair and makeup, why we slip on the jeans that make our butts look good, why we would give anything to be treasured by him – whoever that may be in each of our individual lives. Unfortunately, this is where a beautiful desire that God weaved into our being meets a very cold and dangerous road.