Fairy Tales and Romance

“Do you believe in fairy tales?” the reporter held a microphone to Miriel. She laughed at the obvious implication that she was living a fairy tale. Since she had met Prince Edmund a year and a half ago, she had been pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“I believe in the power of fairy tales,” Miriel began diplomatically, “to give us perspective, and to unleash our imaginations, and to remind us of past traditions. Our dreams are more often found in fairy tales than in our ambitions.”

“What are your dreams?” another reporter shoved her way forward. “Did you dream to marry a prince?”

“Princes are not fairies. They exist in our world. Princes can fall in love just like you or me. To dream that is not a fairy tale…” A reporter began to interrupt, but she held up her graceful hand for silence, then continued, “In the past year, to marry your prince and to serve your country has become my dearest dream.”

“What makes you think you are qualified to serve us?” Miriel recognized the cocky reporter from the back of the crowd. He was a pessimist and a trouble maker.

Thinking out her reply carefully, Miriel answered, “Many people serve your country. Cooks and secretaries, mechanics and soldiers make this country run. The royalty may have different responsibilities, but they are not greater than the people who do these other tasks. I do not pretend to be any more qualified to deliberate in your treaty talks than to repair your car; but I will use the skills I do have to serve your country. And I will invest myself in learning more skills.”

I sometimes get little bits of inspiration that cannot be fit into any longer story. It has been a long time since I pushed a little notebook in front of a friend and made them read it. So I thought I would share it with you today.

This week I began to read Captivating. Several personal friends recommended it, and several websites criticized it. So I am trying to be open. An undeniable effect of the book so far is imagination. Mine is all alive with memories and ideas and stories. (In the adventurous, enchanting sense - true or not.)

As an add-on to the above post, when I was looking for the passage which I typed for you, I also found this list titled, from some years ago, A Christian Girl’s Philosophy of Romance. Each point has a lot of explanation behind it which I never bothered to write down.

• Father figure - My dad approves a suitor as suitable and worthy.
• Big brother factor - God, dad, and brothers defend against those with harmful intent.
• Principle of waiting - Both I and my future husband are waiting, hoping, and maybe eventually protecting each other by silence.
• God’s sight - While I am waiting, I am aiming to please God. The suitor, I am praying, will see me through God’s eyes, so I will be pleasing to him, too.
• Sacrifice - Giving every desire and thought and my future to God as an act of worship.
• Playwright - The Author will write a beautiful love story (Ephesians 3:20-21). He is able to give good gifts.
• Charged by the does - I won’t seek love until it finds me; love is a choice.
• Given to God - Until I am married, I should be caring for the things of God, keeping a pure spirit, and being satisfied with God.
• Dependence - Depend on God who never fails and who always forgives, before He gives me His creature on whom to depend.
• Wilderness of loneliness - Waiting can be a training ground to make me more like God and focused away from myself.
• There is only ONE - Statistically, there are billions of men, but only 1 created and prepared for me. He’s out there; he’s mine; and I’m his. Act accordingly. In the end, it doesn’t matter if there are hundreds who meet the “qualifications” or just a few. I’m waiting for 1.

Proverbs 31:12 ~ “She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.”

Song of Solomon 2:7 ~ “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.”

1 Corinthians 7:34 ~ “…The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit…”