Princess Lessons

The other day I got a bracelet in the mail. It was from my Disney Movie Rewards club and made of sterling sliver and swarovski crystal. It contains ten charms, five are the names of five Disney princess, the other five charms are symbols of each princess. A Shell for Ariel, Spinning wheel for Aurora, Apple for Snow White, Slipper for Cinderella, and a Rose for Belle. Now, this is a pretty bracelet and I am excited to have it, but as I thought about it, it put me in mind of the lessons I can learn from each of those five princesses.

These ideas are not new to me, I've spent some time thinking about what lessons the princesses can teach us. In fact, it's been something I've wanted to write my own versions of the fairy tales that are about these aspects of the princesses.

Let's start with the first Princess, Snow White. She showed kindness and good work ethic. 

When she found herself all on her own, she made do with what she had. She had cleaned in the palace, so when she found a messy home she presumed was full of kids, she set about doing what she knew best. She took care of the dwarves and was kind to each and every one of them, even Grumpy. She showed that, even when your circumstances are bad, you can still show kindness to others.

1 Timothy 5:10 ESV 

And having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

Proverbs 19:17 ESV

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Cinderella demonstrates humility and forgiveness.

Even thought she is mistreated by her step family, she is never cross with them. She humbly does whatever they ask of her. She is reduced to a servant in her own house, but she does not allow it to turn her bitter. She doesn't go to the ball to parade herself around, confident in her own beauty and worth, but rather she just wants to be a part of something so beautiful. This is what I believe the Prince found so attractive about her.

Philippians 2:1-30 ESV
 "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ..."

She also forgives her sisters. Pardon my departure from the Disney version; in the original fairy tale, Cinderella asks her step family to come live with her at the palace and gets handsome husbands for her step sisters. Cinderella was subjected to great injustice, but through it all she showed herself to be of good character.

1 Peter 2:19-23 ESV

For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV 

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

 Sleeping beauty shows us patience.

This is more about what the story teaches us than what the character does. Since she is put to sleep in a dangerous world, full of hate, and awakens to bliss and happiness, we can conclude that she is better off for having been asleep. Now, in the Disney version, we can learn that, because she slumbered, the great evil of Maleficent was killed.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

In the original fairy tale, sleeping beauty sleeps for 100 years and is woken with the kiss of a prince. Throughout the years, other princes had tried to reach the palace surrounded by thorns, but they had perished in the brambles. I take this version as a good analogy for a young woman's heart. If Sleeping Beauty had been awake (and looking at guys), she would have likely met and married another young man. If she hadn't slept for 100 years, she would have never met the young prince she ended up marrying (he wasn't alive 100 years ago). The thorns were protecting her, waiting for the right time, and the right guy before they fell harmlessly away to reveal the sleeping princess. Her patience was rewarded with a fairy tale ending.

Romans 8:25 ESV

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Song of Solomon 8:4 ESV

 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

Ariel, perhaps the least chaste princess here, demonstrates curiosity, passion, and self-sacrifice.

Don't get me wrong, I love Ariel, but she is not as much of a role model as some of the other Disney Princesses. She falls head over fin for a human, disobeys her father, and inadvertently puts the whole kingdom in danger by making a deal with the Sea Witch. In the movie, we can admire her curiosity that causes her to seek knowledge and new experiences. The passion she feels for Eric causes her to give up her life under the ocean and her voice. She does not do things halfway. I suppose her passion reminds me of myself, and the trouble we can get into if it goes unchecked. In the movie, she gets to live happily ever after with her prince, however, in the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, she dies.

Ariel shows great self-sacrifice in the fairy tale. She watches helplessly as her prince marries another girl. Then, knowing she is going to die soon, since she failed to make him love her, she is given an opportunity to live as a mermaid again. In order to live, she has to kill her prince. She refuses and plunges herself into the ocean where she is sure she will become only sea-foam. Instead, she becomes a "daughter of the air" and is given the chance to do good deeds to earn an immortal soul because of her selfless action.

John 15:13 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

John 12:25 ESV 

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Finally, we come to my favorite princess: Belle, who teaches us about placing others first, having a confident strength, and who does not just look at the exterior of a person.

Belle lives in a small town with her father and is always supportive of him. Though her father's oddities affect her social life in town, Belle loves him too much to care. She is not silly, or easily impressed by Gaston. She is a critical thinker who furthers her mind through reading. She does not sit idly by, but rather, she pursues knowledge. When her father is captured, she sacrifices herself and places her father's safety before her own.

She is also a kind, yet strong young woman. Her knowledge was put to good use as she was faced with the Beast. The silly sisters from the town would have never been able to do what Belle did when she tamed the Beast. She was able to stand up to both the Beast and Gaston. She did not allow herself to be pushed around, yet she was still kind to the Beast and saw his hidden heart of gold. It was her ability to not, pardon the cliché, judge a book by it's cover, that we should admire. She saw Gaston had the heart of a pig, even though he was handsome. She rejected this and fell in love with the golden heart of the ugly Beast.

1 Sam 16:7  ESV
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

John 7:24 ESV

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

In the original fairy tale, Belle kept having dreams about a prince who needed to be rescued. She fell in love with the prince of her dreams, literally, but she had to give him up and love the Beast. It was her choice to love the Beast instead of the dream prince that allowed the spell to be broken and the Beast to turn into that very Prince. If she hadn't given the prince up, she would have never been united with him.

Belle demonstrates a lot of the great qualities of love listed in 1 Corinthians, and Gaston is shows the opposite of love. They stand as polar opposites; is it any wonder that Belle chose someone who demonstrated true love to her in return?

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ...

Anyway, I hope that I will always remember these virtues when I wear this bracelet and think about these princesses. I hope you enjoyed hearing my thoughts on some of the most iconic Disney Princesses. :)