The Facts Behind the Fairytales

“Okay, Rebekah,” you may be thinking. “Why the obsession with fairytales? Why can’t you just let them go and accept that they are simply bedtime stories that have no relevance in real life?” Well, it’s because I do think they have relevance. Perhaps they are not entirely fantasy. Perhaps there is something more to them. Just as Aesop’s fables were meant to teach us something, perhaps fairytales are more of an allegory than a fantasy.

Am I the only one who finds it interesting that Snow White’s ultimate demise was taking a bite of a poison apple? Doesn’t that remind you of a story found in the third chapter of Genesis? Or how about Beauty and the Beast where the heroine couldn’t see that the Prince of her dreams was standing before her because he didn’t come in the form she had always imagined him to be? Doesn’t that make you think about a people who didn’t recognize their Messiah when He came to rescue them? And why does Prince Charming have to fight through a thicket of thorns in order to save the Princess? Could it be that this fictitious Prince is a reflection of the Prince who wore a crown of thorns on behalf of his beloved? I think there are too many coincidences to be accidental. And even if they were accidental, I think there is still so much we can learn from the fairytales. I think that if you look a little harder and dig a little deeper, you’ll find many hidden messages in places you never would have dreamed they would be.

I believe in finding God in the everyday ordinary – in butterflies and beaches, sand and storms, flowers and fairytales. Close your eyes, open your heart, and allow yourself to see the facts behind the fairytales.

You’re My Home

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales. I always loved the Disney cartoon, then I watched a local high school perform the Broadway version. Why couldn’t all the songs from Broadway have been incorporated into the cartoon? For nearly eighteen years of my life, I didn’t know what I was missing. Me!, No Matter What, Maison des Lunes… and I found myself particularly drawn to the song Home. (Maybe that stems from the fact that I’m a notorious homebody who doesn’t know why her dreams had to carry her 450 miles away from the place where she grew up.)

Here’s a story that takes a horrible situation and gives it a happy ending. This is a girl’s nightmare turned fairytale. It’s a twist in Belle’s perspective that makes this story spectacular. It’s her willingness to change her views that brings the happy ending. She could have spent the rest of her life “shut away from the world until who knows when,” but instead she chose to open herself up to this monster who held her captive. And in the end she discovered he wasn’t truly a monster at all. As the story reaches the climax and the Beast lies dying, Belle confesses the thing she has learned throughout her time of captivity with these words: “Don’t you know how you’ve changed me? Strange how I finally see… I’ve found home – you’re my home. Stay with me.”

I guess the Beast ended up being what Belle sang about in her first rendition of Home – where the heart is. I’ve found that to be the only way of coping with being so far away from my biological home. I simply focus my heart on where I am and who I’m with. Better yet, I’ve invited Jesus to be my Home. That way I never have to leave it.ย  Now if I stumble upon an enchanted castle in a deep woods, I won’t have to sing a song of mourning. My song will always be one of joy because I’ve been changed, and I’ve found home. God is my home, and He will forever stay with me.