Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Family Fun
K so these pictures are a little late - but my Mom, Dad, and brother David came to visit last month. Dad and Dave stayed for the weekend and Mom stayed a few days extra ;)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Talk on Faith
A couple weeks ago I gave a talk in church about FAITH. I thought you guys might enjoy reading my notes:
The Apostle Paul teaches us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The Prophet Alma tells us that if we have faith it means that we “hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). In True to the Faith we learn that “Faith is a principle of action and power…You show your hope for something that you cannot yet see.”
Did you notice a similar phrase in each of those definitions? They all said something along the lines that one has faith in something not seen.
Our faith should be centered on our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have faith that He atoned for our sins, that He knows and understands everything that happens in our lives. We have faith that because of Him and His Atonement we can one day live forever with our families in the Kingdom of God. We have faith that He is in control – that even though we cannot see our future, He knows all, and we can trust in His promises. Alma 36:3 teaches us that, “whosoever shall put their trust (or if I may say, ‘faith’) in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.”
When I think of faith, I think of the scripture found in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
For me, the most difficult part about having faith is having faith in things I cannot see, like the future – in particular, my future.
I wonder if any of you can relate to what I currently struggle with:
I have been a faithful member of the Church my whole life. I’m by no means perfect but I feel like I have done my best to do everything my Heavenly Father has asked me to do.
Despite the fact that I continue to do my best, I have never felt more alone or lost. I constantly ask myself what am I doing with my life? I have goals that I’m trying to work towards but I feel as if they are completely out of my control. I feel like I’m in the middle of a maze in the dark. I can’t see behind me and I cannot for the life of me figure out what I’m suppose to be doing or where I’m suppose to go.
I read a talk given by President Uchtdorf entitled, “Continue in Patience.” He said, “Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experiences. Often we can’t see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed. Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future opportunity, understanding, and happiness.”
How many times in my life have I experienced this? Like only a million times! I think about the experiences that I had on my mission and while I was going through them I’d think to myself, “why is this happening?! I’m doing everything I can so why do I feel so lost and confused?!” And only looking back on those experiences can I see what Heavenly Father was doing to me in helping define who I am.
How many times have I learned that being righteous doesn’t exempt me from hard times? And how often do we see that in the scriptures? Take Joseph for example: here is a righteous young man who is hated by his brothers, eventually sold as a slave, then when things start to look good, Potiphar’s wife gets him in trouble for keeping the commandments and gets him thrown into prison. By this point I’d have thrown in the towel and been done. But Joseph continues to have faith in the Lord and the Lord rewards him for his obedience and he has the opportunity to work for the Pharaoh and ends up being the key to saving his family from famine. And all of the sudden everything is clear to him and he sees and understands why all those trials had to happen.
My favorite movies are ones with happy endings. There always seems to be a pattern in these movies: the main character is just living their lives, they have hopes and dreams for the future, things they are working towards. All of the sudden something goes wrong or gets in the way of their hopes and dreams. Sometimes things get better but usually things get worse. And when the main character is just about to lose hope – a miracle happens and then everything turns out and their hopes and dreams come true. As I watch these movies I always wonder why the character is so full of despair. If they could just hold on for a little bit longer, everything will turn out alright. It’s because I can see what they can’t. Also because I’ve been the movie already and know how it ends.
But I wonder if Heavenly Father is like this sometimes with us. He can see what we don’t see. He has the bigger picture. We don’t know what the future has in store for us, but He does. We just can’t lose faith in Him and His promises. Because Heavenly Father always keeps His promises. True to the Faith teaches us that, “When trials come, faith can give you strength to press forward and face your hardships with courage. Even when the future seems uncertain, your faith in the Savior can give you peace.”
Having faith in the Lord isn’t always easy – because we can’t see what He can. But I can testify that as we trust in Him, and continue forward in faith, that the Savior will give us peace, and everything will turn out alright.
I looked up the word FAITH in German and was surprised to see that the dictionary had two words to define FAITH: the first one is Glaube. Which is the literal translation for Faith. The other word is: Vertrauen. Which in English means: confidence, trust, faith. Faith is having trust and confidence in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that they will fulfill their promises.
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. They want us to be happy. They want to grant us our righteous desires. They want us to fulfill our hopes and dreams. What is important and matters to us, is important and matters a great deal to Them. They want the very best for us. In fact, they KNOW what is the very best for us. I have trust and confidence that what happens in my life, happens that the time most beneficial to me in helping me grow into the woman that Heavenly Father and Jesus want me to be.
I have faith “That all these things shall give [me] experience, and shall be for [my] good” (D&C 122:7). “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith…But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself…” (3 Nephi 13:30, 33-34).
The Apostle Paul teaches us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The Prophet Alma tells us that if we have faith it means that we “hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). In True to the Faith we learn that “Faith is a principle of action and power…You show your hope for something that you cannot yet see.”
Did you notice a similar phrase in each of those definitions? They all said something along the lines that one has faith in something not seen.
Our faith should be centered on our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have faith that He atoned for our sins, that He knows and understands everything that happens in our lives. We have faith that because of Him and His Atonement we can one day live forever with our families in the Kingdom of God. We have faith that He is in control – that even though we cannot see our future, He knows all, and we can trust in His promises. Alma 36:3 teaches us that, “whosoever shall put their trust (or if I may say, ‘faith’) in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.”
When I think of faith, I think of the scripture found in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
For me, the most difficult part about having faith is having faith in things I cannot see, like the future – in particular, my future.
I wonder if any of you can relate to what I currently struggle with:
I have been a faithful member of the Church my whole life. I’m by no means perfect but I feel like I have done my best to do everything my Heavenly Father has asked me to do.
Despite the fact that I continue to do my best, I have never felt more alone or lost. I constantly ask myself what am I doing with my life? I have goals that I’m trying to work towards but I feel as if they are completely out of my control. I feel like I’m in the middle of a maze in the dark. I can’t see behind me and I cannot for the life of me figure out what I’m suppose to be doing or where I’m suppose to go.
I read a talk given by President Uchtdorf entitled, “Continue in Patience.” He said, “Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experiences. Often we can’t see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed. Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future opportunity, understanding, and happiness.”
How many times in my life have I experienced this? Like only a million times! I think about the experiences that I had on my mission and while I was going through them I’d think to myself, “why is this happening?! I’m doing everything I can so why do I feel so lost and confused?!” And only looking back on those experiences can I see what Heavenly Father was doing to me in helping define who I am.
How many times have I learned that being righteous doesn’t exempt me from hard times? And how often do we see that in the scriptures? Take Joseph for example: here is a righteous young man who is hated by his brothers, eventually sold as a slave, then when things start to look good, Potiphar’s wife gets him in trouble for keeping the commandments and gets him thrown into prison. By this point I’d have thrown in the towel and been done. But Joseph continues to have faith in the Lord and the Lord rewards him for his obedience and he has the opportunity to work for the Pharaoh and ends up being the key to saving his family from famine. And all of the sudden everything is clear to him and he sees and understands why all those trials had to happen.
My favorite movies are ones with happy endings. There always seems to be a pattern in these movies: the main character is just living their lives, they have hopes and dreams for the future, things they are working towards. All of the sudden something goes wrong or gets in the way of their hopes and dreams. Sometimes things get better but usually things get worse. And when the main character is just about to lose hope – a miracle happens and then everything turns out and their hopes and dreams come true. As I watch these movies I always wonder why the character is so full of despair. If they could just hold on for a little bit longer, everything will turn out alright. It’s because I can see what they can’t. Also because I’ve been the movie already and know how it ends.
But I wonder if Heavenly Father is like this sometimes with us. He can see what we don’t see. He has the bigger picture. We don’t know what the future has in store for us, but He does. We just can’t lose faith in Him and His promises. Because Heavenly Father always keeps His promises. True to the Faith teaches us that, “When trials come, faith can give you strength to press forward and face your hardships with courage. Even when the future seems uncertain, your faith in the Savior can give you peace.”
Having faith in the Lord isn’t always easy – because we can’t see what He can. But I can testify that as we trust in Him, and continue forward in faith, that the Savior will give us peace, and everything will turn out alright.
I looked up the word FAITH in German and was surprised to see that the dictionary had two words to define FAITH: the first one is Glaube. Which is the literal translation for Faith. The other word is: Vertrauen. Which in English means: confidence, trust, faith. Faith is having trust and confidence in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that they will fulfill their promises.
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. They want us to be happy. They want to grant us our righteous desires. They want us to fulfill our hopes and dreams. What is important and matters to us, is important and matters a great deal to Them. They want the very best for us. In fact, they KNOW what is the very best for us. I have trust and confidence that what happens in my life, happens that the time most beneficial to me in helping me grow into the woman that Heavenly Father and Jesus want me to be.
I have faith “That all these things shall give [me] experience, and shall be for [my] good” (D&C 122:7). “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith…But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself…” (3 Nephi 13:30, 33-34).
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Old Maid
"Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three and twenty! Lord, how ashamed I should be of not being married before three and twenty!"
My name is Rach and sometimes I am ashamed of not being married before three and twenty.
Yesterday at work I met a woman who is LDS (surprise) but she asked me how old I was. I had to think for a minute - because I had honestly forgotten how old I was - then I remembered and (shamefully) replied that I am 24 years old. First of all, when did that happen?! Secondly, I shouldn't be ashamed to admit that I'm 24 years old, but I am sometimes because I feel like people will then look at my left hand and find it completely empty. No 'ring'.
I blame it on our culture. Even though the quote from the beginning of this post was written by Jane Austen in a time completely different in almost every way from the times we are living in, I feel like our little Mormon culture hasn't changed in that respect.
Most of the time I am proud to say that I am 24 and NOT married. I don't need to be married to be happy. I enjoy being on my own - I mean, come on, once I'm married it'll be for eternity. That's like a really long time. I might as well be single and enjoy it because marriage will be forever long.
But there are those times when I feel like people are judging me! Like there's something wrong with me because I'm 24 and not married. Do you know what that's like, living in a culture where people think that there could be something wrong with you because you aren't married yet? I know I'm probably being a little paranoid and like everyone pays that close attention to my life. But I do feel like an old maid sometimes.
Freak, I'm turning 25 this year. Do you know what that means? It means that in another 5 years I'll be 30. Not that there's anything wrong with getting older, it's just a little scary. I still feel like I'm 18 - I know nothing and everything at the same time.
I'm just trying to say that there isn't anything wrong with me because I'm almost 25 and NOT married! I try really hard to do what Heavenly Father wants me to do. If He wanted me to be married right now, I'd be married. Obviously now is not the time.
:D So bring on all the cute guys and let me flirt away!
Plus, it's all about how young you feel (and act) right??
My name is Rach and sometimes I am ashamed of not being married before three and twenty.
Yesterday at work I met a woman who is LDS (surprise) but she asked me how old I was. I had to think for a minute - because I had honestly forgotten how old I was - then I remembered and (shamefully) replied that I am 24 years old. First of all, when did that happen?! Secondly, I shouldn't be ashamed to admit that I'm 24 years old, but I am sometimes because I feel like people will then look at my left hand and find it completely empty. No 'ring'.
I blame it on our culture. Even though the quote from the beginning of this post was written by Jane Austen in a time completely different in almost every way from the times we are living in, I feel like our little Mormon culture hasn't changed in that respect.
Most of the time I am proud to say that I am 24 and NOT married. I don't need to be married to be happy. I enjoy being on my own - I mean, come on, once I'm married it'll be for eternity. That's like a really long time. I might as well be single and enjoy it because marriage will be forever long.
But there are those times when I feel like people are judging me! Like there's something wrong with me because I'm 24 and not married. Do you know what that's like, living in a culture where people think that there could be something wrong with you because you aren't married yet? I know I'm probably being a little paranoid and like everyone pays that close attention to my life. But I do feel like an old maid sometimes.
Freak, I'm turning 25 this year. Do you know what that means? It means that in another 5 years I'll be 30. Not that there's anything wrong with getting older, it's just a little scary. I still feel like I'm 18 - I know nothing and everything at the same time.
I'm just trying to say that there isn't anything wrong with me because I'm almost 25 and NOT married! I try really hard to do what Heavenly Father wants me to do. If He wanted me to be married right now, I'd be married. Obviously now is not the time.
:D So bring on all the cute guys and let me flirt away!
Plus, it's all about how young you feel (and act) right??
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Let's change things up a bit...
A couple weeks ago I decided to get my hair done. Lucky for me the person who does my hair happens to be my friend Jordyn!
Here's a before picture:
I decided that I wanted light brown and auburn highlights. After applying the colors and letting my hair sit, Jordyn washed it out and guess what....my hair went blonde! After a slight panic attack on my part and two attempts to fix it, my hair finally darken a bit and I'm not blonde!
Here's the after picture:
So I got to spend the day with my friend and change things up a bit with more color in my hair :D
Here's a before picture:
I decided that I wanted light brown and auburn highlights. After applying the colors and letting my hair sit, Jordyn washed it out and guess what....my hair went blonde! After a slight panic attack on my part and two attempts to fix it, my hair finally darken a bit and I'm not blonde!
Here's the after picture:
So I got to spend the day with my friend and change things up a bit with more color in my hair :D
Sunday, March 13, 2011
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?! / Dear UTAH...
Have you ever been in a situation where you know of something that's about to happen, someone is making a decision, and you can already see the outcome of that decision?
And all you do is think to yourself (or you're like me and you talk out loud to yourself): "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?! ARE YOU USING YOUR BRAIN?!? DO YOU EVEN HAVE ONE?!?!?"
But there isn't anything you can do about it. So you just sit back and wait for the disaster that you know is coming to happen. And when it comes you confirm to yourself that you were right, that person has no brain.
It frustrates me when this happens.
I wish people would use their brain and think. That's why we have them people!
______________________________________________________
Dear UTAH,
I would like to place some of the blame of this upcoming disaster on you. See, your air is slightly lacking in oxygen. True, your elevation is higher which means less oxygen in comparison to somewhere perfect like, Seattle. However, I feel that there is even less oxygen than normal because there is so much polution in the air.
Have you ever noticed that when you rain, you rain dirt? That is polution falling from your sky. And your rain smells like wet dog instead of normal, clean rain, like in Seattle.
To sum up, you really need to do something about the polution because it causes the air to contain less oxygen which is causing the people who live here brain damage.
You really should try and be more like Washington State.
Please stop causing people to make stupid decisions.
RACH
a Washingtonian for LIFE
And all you do is think to yourself (or you're like me and you talk out loud to yourself): "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?! ARE YOU USING YOUR BRAIN?!? DO YOU EVEN HAVE ONE?!?!?"
But there isn't anything you can do about it. So you just sit back and wait for the disaster that you know is coming to happen. And when it comes you confirm to yourself that you were right, that person has no brain.
It frustrates me when this happens.
I wish people would use their brain and think. That's why we have them people!
______________________________________________________
Dear UTAH,
I would like to place some of the blame of this upcoming disaster on you. See, your air is slightly lacking in oxygen. True, your elevation is higher which means less oxygen in comparison to somewhere perfect like, Seattle. However, I feel that there is even less oxygen than normal because there is so much polution in the air.
Have you ever noticed that when you rain, you rain dirt? That is polution falling from your sky. And your rain smells like wet dog instead of normal, clean rain, like in Seattle.
To sum up, you really need to do something about the polution because it causes the air to contain less oxygen which is causing the people who live here brain damage.
You really should try and be more like Washington State.
Please stop causing people to make stupid decisions.
RACH
a Washingtonian for LIFE
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A word of advice from someone who's been there...
Word of advice: don't pray for something unless you're willing to live with the consequences that could come from what you're asking.
Example: Last week I prayed and told Heavenly Father that I was bord. Just bord with my life. I was hardly working and had lots of free time. Too much free time allows one to think too much and therefore analyze every part of my life and remind myself of everything that is wrong with me and everything that I could be doing better (which is nothing because I'm practically perfect in every way).
Consequence: My store manager left on vacation and left me (not the assistant manager) in charge of the store. This meant being in charge of running the floor change that was originally scheduled for Sunday but then was changed to Monday night - prepping the store for the floor change including sorting and prepping all the new clothes that were suppose to all come on Friday but instead came half on Friday and the other half on Monday. I was also to make sure that everyone else did their part in keeping the store running including making sure our assistant manager did her projects. And I was apparently suppose to make sure that we were making lots of money and helping every single customer fulfill their needs and leave our store happy. I was suppose to be Wonder Woman - let me rephrase that - I was suppose to be better than Wonder Woman.
Let's make this even more exciting.
On top of all my duties at my store I get a call from a friend asking me to cover his shift at my old store. This meant that on Saturday I was to be at my store at 7am - 4pm with an hour break then head over to my old store and work 4pm - 10pm with a half hour break. Because I had so much to do at my store I worked during my hour break plus came back to my store during my half hour break. I also had the brilliant idea to help out my friend even more by working for him Monday morning. So Monday looked like this: 9am - 1:30pm old store. 1:30pm - 3:30pm my store. Then a break (which I worked through) till 5pm which I then worked non-stop 5pm - 12:30am.
Despite everything that went wrong I thought I did a pretty d*** good job running a store by myself. Not that I did an amazing job but despite everything, I felt alright.
Store manager came back today.
You want to know everything that I did WRONG? Because that's all I heard during my shift at work today. Even though I worked my BUTT OFF since she left all I heard was everything that I DIDN'T do or that I DIDN'T do right. And I got in trouble for everything that everyone else DIDN'T do or DIDN'T do right. I DO NOT get paid enough...
So after working two 14+ hour days I get told everything that I did wrong. Not that I'm not already a perfectionist and not nearly hard enough on myself, I had to have someone point out to me all my faults. Like I already don't know. What a wonderful day.
Advice: when you think your life is boring and you feel like telling Heavenly Father this - just be prepared for what may come.
Example: Last week I prayed and told Heavenly Father that I was bord. Just bord with my life. I was hardly working and had lots of free time. Too much free time allows one to think too much and therefore analyze every part of my life and remind myself of everything that is wrong with me and everything that I could be doing better (which is nothing because I'm practically perfect in every way).
Consequence: My store manager left on vacation and left me (not the assistant manager) in charge of the store. This meant being in charge of running the floor change that was originally scheduled for Sunday but then was changed to Monday night - prepping the store for the floor change including sorting and prepping all the new clothes that were suppose to all come on Friday but instead came half on Friday and the other half on Monday. I was also to make sure that everyone else did their part in keeping the store running including making sure our assistant manager did her projects. And I was apparently suppose to make sure that we were making lots of money and helping every single customer fulfill their needs and leave our store happy. I was suppose to be Wonder Woman - let me rephrase that - I was suppose to be better than Wonder Woman.
Let's make this even more exciting.
On top of all my duties at my store I get a call from a friend asking me to cover his shift at my old store. This meant that on Saturday I was to be at my store at 7am - 4pm with an hour break then head over to my old store and work 4pm - 10pm with a half hour break. Because I had so much to do at my store I worked during my hour break plus came back to my store during my half hour break. I also had the brilliant idea to help out my friend even more by working for him Monday morning. So Monday looked like this: 9am - 1:30pm old store. 1:30pm - 3:30pm my store. Then a break (which I worked through) till 5pm which I then worked non-stop 5pm - 12:30am.
Despite everything that went wrong I thought I did a pretty d*** good job running a store by myself. Not that I did an amazing job but despite everything, I felt alright.
Store manager came back today.
You want to know everything that I did WRONG? Because that's all I heard during my shift at work today. Even though I worked my BUTT OFF since she left all I heard was everything that I DIDN'T do or that I DIDN'T do right. And I got in trouble for everything that everyone else DIDN'T do or DIDN'T do right. I DO NOT get paid enough...
So after working two 14+ hour days I get told everything that I did wrong. Not that I'm not already a perfectionist and not nearly hard enough on myself, I had to have someone point out to me all my faults. Like I already don't know. What a wonderful day.
Advice: when you think your life is boring and you feel like telling Heavenly Father this - just be prepared for what may come.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Cinderella
Cinderella was my FAVORITE movie when I was little - so little that I couldn't even say "Cinderella" (and so little that DVDs weren't around yet). Instead I called it the 'Rella' movie. I'm not sure exactly why it was my favorite movie back then. It's probably because I knew deep within my little heart that I too am a princess. Who knows.
I watched Cinderella not too long ago and it really caused me to think. Why is it that most girls love princess fairytales? Is it because of all the fancy dresses they wear? Is it the diamond crown or the pretty shoes? Is it the perfectly handsome prince?
Now hear me out as I analyze the Cinderella story: (I know that this story is completely fictional, just go with it okay) Here is someone who has almost nothing to live for:
- she has no family, other than her mean step-mother and annoying step-sisters who don't love her
- she has no prospects, I mean she cooks and cleans for people who could care less about her, she has no other job options unless she does the same thing for someone else, and where, when, or how is she going to meet a guy unless he just randomly stops by her place
- her only friends are animals and because this is a fictional tale she's lucky that her mice friends talk back to her
As I was watching this movie I thought, where is the hope in all this? Despite the fact that she has practically nothing to live for, she keeps living. The first song she sings is all about hope:
"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose, your heart aches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday the rainbow will come shining through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."
And so she continues to have hope that one day her dreams will come true. She has the chance to go to the ball and then that chance is crushed by her step-mother and step-sisters. And just as she's falling apart and losing all her hope that her life can change, her fairy godmother appears (don't we all wish we had one of those?). She goes to the ball, has the perfect dress and looks absolutely fabulous (thank you Disney for helping us all feel good about ourselves even while we're watching cartoons), meets Mr. Perfectly Handsome Prince, dances the night away, and even manages to have time to fall in love and escape without anyone finding out who she is. Oh, and she loses one of her glass slippers (but it's okay because that comes in handy later on in the story).
Lucky for Cinderella, she made such an amazing impression on Mr. Perfectly Handsome Prince that he's convinced he's in love with her and wants to marry her! Wow, what a first date that was! So the duke has to try the glass slipper on every girl in the kingdom blah blah blah Cinderella has another glimpse of hope because that means that she gets to try on the slipper that (miraculously) only fits her. But then, just when things are looking good, the evil step-mother interferes and life goes from good to BAD. That's pretty close to hitting rock bottom: having your dreams within sight and having them disappear within minutes. But never fear! This is a fairytale so a miracle happens and her little mice friends are able to rescue her just in the nick of time! And our Cinderella lives happily ever after with Mr. Perfectly Handsome Prince who she fell in love with within a few hours of meeting him.
If only real life were like that right?
Or maybe it is...
Not so like a fairytale that we have animal friends that talk to us or fairy godmothers who appear when we need them and fix all our problems. But how many of us feel a little helpless like Cinderella does at any given point in the story? We can't see our future, who knows if our dreams are just around the corner or if Mr. Perfectly Handsome Prince will come into our lives tomorrow or within the coming years? The point is that we can't give up. Because we really don't know what the future has in store for us. And maybe something wonderful will happen.
And this is why I love Cinderella. Because even though it's completely fictional, it brings me hope. I admire this fictional character because she has the courage to keep going even when life feels like it couldn't get any worse.
"No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."
I watched Cinderella not too long ago and it really caused me to think. Why is it that most girls love princess fairytales? Is it because of all the fancy dresses they wear? Is it the diamond crown or the pretty shoes? Is it the perfectly handsome prince?
Now hear me out as I analyze the Cinderella story: (I know that this story is completely fictional, just go with it okay) Here is someone who has almost nothing to live for:
- she has no family, other than her mean step-mother and annoying step-sisters who don't love her
- she has no prospects, I mean she cooks and cleans for people who could care less about her, she has no other job options unless she does the same thing for someone else, and where, when, or how is she going to meet a guy unless he just randomly stops by her place
- her only friends are animals and because this is a fictional tale she's lucky that her mice friends talk back to her
As I was watching this movie I thought, where is the hope in all this? Despite the fact that she has practically nothing to live for, she keeps living. The first song she sings is all about hope:
"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose, your heart aches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday the rainbow will come shining through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."
And so she continues to have hope that one day her dreams will come true. She has the chance to go to the ball and then that chance is crushed by her step-mother and step-sisters. And just as she's falling apart and losing all her hope that her life can change, her fairy godmother appears (don't we all wish we had one of those?). She goes to the ball, has the perfect dress and looks absolutely fabulous (thank you Disney for helping us all feel good about ourselves even while we're watching cartoons), meets Mr. Perfectly Handsome Prince, dances the night away, and even manages to have time to fall in love and escape without anyone finding out who she is. Oh, and she loses one of her glass slippers (but it's okay because that comes in handy later on in the story).
Lucky for Cinderella, she made such an amazing impression on Mr. Perfectly Handsome Prince that he's convinced he's in love with her and wants to marry her! Wow, what a first date that was! So the duke has to try the glass slipper on every girl in the kingdom blah blah blah Cinderella has another glimpse of hope because that means that she gets to try on the slipper that (miraculously) only fits her. But then, just when things are looking good, the evil step-mother interferes and life goes from good to BAD. That's pretty close to hitting rock bottom: having your dreams within sight and having them disappear within minutes. But never fear! This is a fairytale so a miracle happens and her little mice friends are able to rescue her just in the nick of time! And our Cinderella lives happily ever after with Mr. Perfectly Handsome Prince who she fell in love with within a few hours of meeting him.
If only real life were like that right?
Or maybe it is...
Not so like a fairytale that we have animal friends that talk to us or fairy godmothers who appear when we need them and fix all our problems. But how many of us feel a little helpless like Cinderella does at any given point in the story? We can't see our future, who knows if our dreams are just around the corner or if Mr. Perfectly Handsome Prince will come into our lives tomorrow or within the coming years? The point is that we can't give up. Because we really don't know what the future has in store for us. And maybe something wonderful will happen.
And this is why I love Cinderella. Because even though it's completely fictional, it brings me hope. I admire this fictional character because she has the courage to keep going even when life feels like it couldn't get any worse.
"No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."
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