Over Thanksgiving break, my phone rang. It was my boss {one of the most influential partners at my law firm} calling from his home in Connecticut. He wasn't calling to ask my advice or to request my assistance. He was instead calling because he had just finished seeing Disney's Tangled with his four kids and couldn't get over how much the main characters mannerisms and features looked like mine.
{At this point, a self respecting working woman would probably have some concern over the fact that her biggest boss had just equated her to a cartoon character, but, fortunately, we're not dealing with one of those... we're dealing with me}
And I immediately and honestly responded... "I've always wanted to be a princess" but then I sighed, laughed and said, "but of course I'm the princess that they stuck in the tower...."
I saw the movie for the first time last night, and I so pray that I am as joyful and as hopeful as the heroine... I know some days I have to fight for that part of me to be seen, so I don't know if I can claim her mannerisms and her looks, but I do know that I share her frustrations, her fears and her hopeful spirit.
I can not tell you how many nights spent on my couch or in my bed have felt so frighteningly like time trapped in a tower. I can't describe to you how, to the depths of my being, I have felt like someone has pushed a cosmic pause button and said... stay here for a bit... wait.
And I wonder... have you ever felt trapped in a tower too?
One of my mentors told me one night, amidst my tears and sobs over some heartbreak, "True princesses need a lot of time in the tower."
As much as I hate to admit it, I believe that is true.
I am not for a second saying that "tower time" is equated solely to singleness. Let's instead equate "tower time" to any delayed dream. Not "I dream to live in London or vacation in Italy" but to a deeply desired dream - one that defines you.
Those whom God has called unto Him - those whose hearts are turned to Him - should be prepared for some delays and some time of pruning.
Hebrews 12:6 is not really a verse that you want to put on your bathroom mirror and gaze at first thing every morning, but it is one that we all need to remember... "the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as son."
I don't believe that, on the Saturday nights where I have been left with a half eaten pizza and a pending sense of hopelessness, I was being punished for sins, but I do know, looking back, that I was being pruned.
C. S. Lewis has a great visual that talks about how we, as Christians, want God to come into our lives and do some remodeling. We think, when we let Him in, that He'll add some crown molding... some bookshelves here and there... maybe even some granite or marble. All of the sudden; however, walls start getting knocked down... the roof is being removed... rain... wind... elements... are all pouring in. It's painful. It's difficult. It's a process. Because, see the thing is our God doesn't come in to remodel - He comes in to rebuild. He comes to make us not a better house, but a different house entirely.
And, precious princess, pruning is painful, but it is for your protection and it is for a perfect purpose.
The purpose in your life is different than the purpose in mine and it's different than the purpose in yours and my friends' lives. The purpose is personal, and we thankfully serve a personal God. He knows what we need - He knows where we're going - He's preparing us to be His princess.
I know waiting is hard. I know it is tedious. I know it is painful. I know it does not come naturally. I do not do it easily. I have not done it perfectly. And I most assuredly have and continue to do it with many tears.
I can not tell you how many nights spent on my couch or in my bed have felt so frighteningly like time trapped in a tower. I can't describe to you how, to the depths of my being, I have felt like someone has pushed a cosmic pause button and said... stay here for a bit... wait.
And I wonder... have you ever felt trapped in a tower too?
One of my mentors told me one night, amidst my tears and sobs over some heartbreak, "True princesses need a lot of time in the tower."
As much as I hate to admit it, I believe that is true.
I am not for a second saying that "tower time" is equated solely to singleness. Let's instead equate "tower time" to any delayed dream. Not "I dream to live in London or vacation in Italy" but to a deeply desired dream - one that defines you.
Those whom God has called unto Him - those whose hearts are turned to Him - should be prepared for some delays and some time of pruning.
Hebrews 12:6 is not really a verse that you want to put on your bathroom mirror and gaze at first thing every morning, but it is one that we all need to remember... "the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as son."
I don't believe that, on the Saturday nights where I have been left with a half eaten pizza and a pending sense of hopelessness, I was being punished for sins, but I do know, looking back, that I was being pruned.
C. S. Lewis has a great visual that talks about how we, as Christians, want God to come into our lives and do some remodeling. We think, when we let Him in, that He'll add some crown molding... some bookshelves here and there... maybe even some granite or marble. All of the sudden; however, walls start getting knocked down... the roof is being removed... rain... wind... elements... are all pouring in. It's painful. It's difficult. It's a process. Because, see the thing is our God doesn't come in to remodel - He comes in to rebuild. He comes to make us not a better house, but a different house entirely.
And, precious princess, pruning is painful, but it is for your protection and it is for a perfect purpose.
The purpose in your life is different than the purpose in mine and it's different than the purpose in yours and my friends' lives. The purpose is personal, and we thankfully serve a personal God. He knows what we need - He knows where we're going - He's preparing us to be His princess.
I know waiting is hard. I know it is tedious. I know it is painful. I know it does not come naturally. I do not do it easily. I have not done it perfectly. And I most assuredly have and continue to do it with many tears.
Yet, in all of our weaknesses, we must cling to the fact that we have a God that majors in the supernatural. We have a God that graces us to walk the path that lies ahead. We have a God that has a plan.
May we trust the author and orchestrator of our faith and may we cling to the fact that, just as the rests in a symphony are not a pause in the music, but a part of the music, so too are the rests in our life. May we remember that the conductor of a symphony is not pausing during the rests, but he is instead counting the beats until the music will play again. So too is your heavenly Father counting the beats during the in the rests of your life. He is longing to bless you - - He is longing for the music to play again, but He is waiting - - He is waiting intentionally - - He is waiting lovingly - - He is waiting with an eternal purpose.
So, with that, I will leave you with the words of Naomi to Ruth in chapter three, verse eighteen of the book of Ruth, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens...."
May we trust the author and orchestrator of our faith and may we cling to the fact that, just as the rests in a symphony are not a pause in the music, but a part of the music, so too are the rests in our life. May we remember that the conductor of a symphony is not pausing during the rests, but he is instead counting the beats until the music will play again. So too is your heavenly Father counting the beats during the in the rests of your life. He is longing to bless you - - He is longing for the music to play again, but He is waiting - - He is waiting intentionally - - He is waiting lovingly - - He is waiting with an eternal purpose.
So, with that, I will leave you with the words of Naomi to Ruth in chapter three, verse eighteen of the book of Ruth, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens...."
Wait... wait... and watch out, because when your Heavenly Father... the orchestrator of your story says it's time, He will waste no time, and when He cues your music to play - get ready to have your breath taken away.
So back to Tangled... Rapunzel, right before she is about to see the "bright lights" - her dream, her destiny - unfold, for the first time, she says, "I'm terrified... what if it isn't as amazing as I imagined?" The hero, in the story, looked at her and replies, "It will be - it will be more."
Rest your hope in the Lord, the true hero of your story, and I assure you - "It will be... it will be more."
-B.B.
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