Cinderella - Part One

So let’s be honest.

We all love Cinderella. She is basically the epitome of the phrase “Disney Princess.”

When I was 16, my mom took me to see Disney Princesses on Ice. The first half of the show had all the princesses in it, but then, after intermission, they focused the second half of the show on “the most favorite princess story of all” – Cinderella.

Why do we love her story so much?

Is it because she’s such a hard worker like we believe ourselves to be? Or maybe because her prince is a hunk, even in animation form? Or maybe even because she has our dream prom dress, whether we’ll admit it to anyone or not, specially crafted for her out of thin air?

All of these reasons make us want to be just like Cinderella. But perhaps the most prominent reason is the one that is slightly under the surface, yet totally obvious.

She went from rags to riches.

Isn’t that what we all want? To better our situations? To be the perfect size, to have the best friends, the most gorgeous boyfriends, the nicest parents, and the newest gadgets?

This is why we want to be Cinderella. She went from an attic to a castle. She went from dirty clothes to a beautiful wedding dress. She went from mice to a handsome prince. We all want to go from A to B, as well. Our attitude in our situations is so important. Whether we in the climax of our story or in the happily ever after, we need to posses some very princess-like qualities that helped Cinderella shine even while scrubbing the floors.

Hardworking
You know as well as I do that if we were asked to do most of the tasks that Cinderella had to do, like feed chickens or scrub floors, we wouldn’t be happy. If most of us were honest, we’d probably admit that we probably wouldn’t even bother completing our task. Cinderella, however, knew the importance of hard work. Look where her hard work got her.

The castle.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 says, “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work.” Do you realize that this verse means that we should find the results of our work as good eating?

That’s kind of tough to handle. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t exactly rank eating chocolate up there with scrubbing out the toilet. So why do we get this satisfaction in our work that Ecclesiastes is talking about?

We have to realize the without work, we’re never going to get the happy ending. If you don’t put the effort into every single thing you do, you are never going to reap the rewards.

“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk only leads to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23

Don’t you want the profit? Don’t you want the happy ending?

I promise that it’s worth it. Work hard in your sports, academics, relationships, self-improvement, and anything you wish to do. Study hard, and get the A. Practice up, and win the game. Learn to respect your boyfriend properly, and have a long lasting relationship. Make yourself a better person, and like who you are.

Suffering

We all know that Cinderella suffered. Remember when her stepsisters ripped her beautiful pink dress shreds? You know how that feels. You’ve all had a pink dress moment.

Remember when you tried your hair that cute new way you saw in the magazine and your frenemy said you looked like a poodle?

Remember when you finally got the courage to ask that guy out and he turned you down in front of his friends?

Remember when you ate that second piece of chocolate cake and your jeans didn’t fit for three whole days?

Remember when your best friend blew you off for her boyfriend?

Remember when your parents fought all of the time and you couldn’t make them stop?

Remember when you got into that huge fight with your sister?

Remember when you cut yourself because you thought it was the only option?

We understand what it means to suffer. But being a princess means that we accept our sufferings. We know we’re not the only ones out there who are going through tough times. We realize that hope is 1000 times stronger than our suffering.

Romans 5:3-4 says, “…We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

That is seriously one of the most important verses that a princess should know. We’re all going to suffer and unfortunately, we’re going to continue to suffer forever. It’s just a fact of life. But what’s so cool about suffering is that once we get through it, we have hope. We know it’s going to get better. We know that there’s a happily ever after just around the river bend.

Introduction

To truly understand my princess passion, you need to hear the story of my 16th birthday party.

The day of my Sweet 16, I wore a carefully planned outfit - purple shirt, plastic purple costume jewelry, and a ridiculously sparkly crown with glitter that gently fluttered in my hair and on my shoulders every time I moved. I found the crown at Claire's for $4.95 + tax. It was not my first (or last) crown, by any means.

At my party, a beautiful bouquet of Disney Princess balloons adorned the dining room table. My mom gave in to all of my begging, and she bought me a Disney Princess ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. It even came with figurines of Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, and Ariel.

Present-wise, my parents showered me with everything Disney, hoping, I'm sure, to cure my obsession. They gave me two big gift bags (with pictures from Beauty and the Beast on them, of course) full of presents - Disney Princess markers, crayons, toys, coloring books - basically anything you could think of. Oh, and over 2,000 Disney Princess stickers. My closest friends gave me Disney Princess birthday caards, the best ones being the "singing" cards that serenaded me with choruses of "Someday My Prince Will Come" and "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes." My best guy friend gave me a magic wand that conveniently matched my crown. It even lit up.

I added all of my gifts to my previous collection of Disney Princess merchandise, and that night, I fell asleep listening to my Disney Princess CD, wrapped up in my Disney Princess blanket, head resting on my giant Disney Princess pillow shaped like a crown.

I was one happy 16 year old.

Looking back, I can understand why more than a few people thought I was a little crazy. It's kind of an out-there obsession for a normal teenage girl to have. The reason for my princess obsession started to sink in about a year after the party. I discovered one very important thing about myself.

I wanted to be a princess!

Obviously, I'm sure you're thinking. But I can honestly say that I hadn't known that about myself until after I really started examining my obsession.

I wanted someone, preferably a handsome prince, to come and sweep me off my feet. I wanted him to look deep inside me and ignore all of my bad parts, instead focusing on every last princess-like quality I had buried inside myself. I wanted someone to think I was worth a happy ending. I wanted my once upon a time and my happily ever after. I wanted to be worthy of a crown.

And then one night, I found two verses in my Bible that changed absolutely everything.

One was Psalm 103:2-5. The other was Isaiah 61:1-3. You should go look them up. Right now.

Trust me, it's worth it.

Well, what do you think?

Don't they make you feel beautiful? Don't they make you realize that someone has written you a once upon a time at last? Don't they make you look forward to your own happily ever after? Don't they make you want to be different?

That's how they made me feel. They made me more than just Kelsey. They crowned me as Princess Kelsey. And immediately, I wanted to live up to that title.

But what exactly is a princess? How do we know what qualities to build in ourselves in make us worthy of being a princess? How do we know what's truly beautiful?

This is where my Disney Princess obsession comes in.

It seems crazy, mixing Disney and the Bible. But the more I thought abou it and the more I researched, the more I discovered that there are endless connections between my Bible and the princesses in my favorite fairy tales.

Let's just think of it this way. The Bible is our how-to manual on becoming a princess, and the Disney Princesses are our tour gujides.

Are you ready to get started?

Once upon a time...

Welcome to Crowned!

This is the online version of the book that I am writing.

The book is called Crowned, and it is about the endless connections between Disney Princesses and the Bible, as strange as that may sound.

Obviously, anything I post here is free game for your comments and suggestions. I'm sure I'll need a lot of help!

Thanks for reading!