Monday Reflections of Cinderella

Last night we watched the enchanting live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic, Cinderella. I said to Andrew at one point, ‘I’ve cried more watching this version than the original…it wasn’t this sad!’

I wondered, towards the end, how this was going to end – and lest I be a spoiler, please stop reading at this point if you’ve not seen the magical tale. It is certainly worth your time to sit and enjoy before I ruin it for you.

If you’ve seen it, please keep reading as I am sure you loved it as I did.

As Cinderella started singing that beautiful tune, Lavender’s Blue – which I will now make a part of my regular humming – my heart leapt at what was going to happen…the possibility of it all!

As she sang, gazing out the window…and then the KING {that handsome prince we all knew…}, revealed himself, I grabbed Andrew’s arm and squealed!

“If you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you…”

With that glorious exchange of words with that wretched Step-Mother, she ever so gracefully walked out of that horrid ‘attic’ and began the descent down the stairs. As the Fairy Godmother narrated, I anxiously awaited the scene that would forever change the life of Cinderella.

These words brought tears to my eyes, even before she saw her beloved Prince: “Would who she was, who she really was, be enough? There was no magic to help her this time. This is perhaps the greatest risk that any of us will take. To be seen as we truly are.”

She stopped to look at herself in the mirror, plain as the world would see her. No fancy jewels. No makeup to hide her true beauty, or perfectly styled hair… She wasn’t as someone thought she should be on her outward appearance, but she was loving even when the slugs around her were so cruel. She was kind when she certainly didn’t have to be.

As he turned around to see her as she walked into the room, and with joy upon his face because he knew he had found her…”Who are you?” he asked.

Vulnerable in a way she hadn’t been before, especially before this man whom she had come to love. Though she called herself ‘an honest country girl’, she was so much more than that. Her inner beauty and her loving soul were what had truly captured him, yet she was ravishing.

Humble together in their exchange of imperfections, they knew they had found one another again and this was just the beginning.

I honestly could watch this movie over and over. What kindness. What beauty. What joy and love.

To cap it all off for me, from a spiritual sense, was the scene as she walked out of her beloved home where she cherished the memories of her parents above all else, she looked back upon that sad woman who had tried to wreck her life and with a simple statement, “I forgive you”, she left to become Queen.

“Have courage and be kind” were the words her dying mother had spoken to her and they carried throughout the film. Even toward the end she had courage and was kind to say words that could have been very difficult to say, think or even feel, but she said them. Cinderella hadn’t allowed the evil from this woman to change who she was inside.

Though there be cruelty in the world and things don’t go our way, we can choose to be kind. We can choose to be love in the midst of hate. We can have courage to do the good and right thing. May we all choose wisely today.

Until next time…