Way Better Than Sleeping Beauty

We are planning a trip to Disney in the not too far off future. As part of our preparation for the trip, I've been letting my daughter watch some of the classic Walt Disney princess movies. I thought she would enjoy seeing the characters at the park if she had some idea of who they actually were.

I can tell that my "way has been narrowing," by my reaction to these stories that I used to love so much. If there was ever a die-hard princess romance fan, it was me from age 7 to about 14. Yes, really! As a 13 year old I was still enthralled by The Little Mermaid. But as I read The Little Mermaid to my daughter this past week, I was pretty horrified. Ariel blatantly rebels against her father, she keeps a treasured collection of forbidden human items and she seeks out and makes a deal with her father's enemy, the sea witch. At about this point in the story, I'm wondering to my myself: "Why, exactly, is this a character I want my daughter to admire?"

Don 't worry, I'm not a total party pooper. I kept my self righteous indignation to myself. After all, these stories are meant to be fun entertainment, not life lessons. And I loved them as a girl. So I suppose I should let my daughter have her own shot at romantic fantasy. BUT, I think I will gently add a commentary about Ariel's foolish choices, versus what God commands us to do. (Fortunately, I think my daughter is much less attracted to princesses than I was.)

All this to say, that the Bible has much better romantic love stories. And the ones in the Bible really happened, to real women. Some of them even involve princesses. They also involve truth, tension, mystery, suspense, obedience, rebellion, mercy, grace, sin, restoration, etc... In other words, they are way better than Sleeping Beauty!

A perfect case in point. I read through the book of Ruth this past week. What a delightful book! I think it is one of my new favorites. There is so much in those 4 short chapters. I'm not going to sum up the entire book in this one post, and I have written about Ruth and Naomi before.

Instead, let me extract a few of my favorite passages, and flesh them out.

Ruth 1:20-21

"But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"

A jolt went through me when I read that verse. It captured, in one (well, technically two) sentences, the way I felt after my first child was born. I had left home one morning, expecting a regular day, heavily pregnant. And by that night, my child had been delivered and my arms were empty. She was in the NICU. I had been full, and suddenly I was empty. I felt like the Almighty had afflicted me and dealt bitterly with me.

Whether those emotions were justified or not, that is exactly how I felt for many months. Now, with the perspective of several years, I see that day as the beginning of amazing blessings that the LORD was waiting to pour out on me. But then, I just felt empty, and afflicted.

This whole passage comes into clearer focus if you realize that the name Naomi means "pleasant" and the name Mara means "bitter."

Another powerful verse:

(This happens when Ruth and Boaz first meet, when Boaz extends great kindness to her)

Ruth 2:10

"So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"

Whoa! Don't you feel like that sometimes when you approach God? I do. Why should God take notice of me? I am a foreigner. In more ways than one. I'm a Gentile, I was born under wrath by nature, I certainly have never done anything that would deserve God's grace. And yet, He has extended it to me, overwhelmingly.

I'm going to share one more verse, this time one that just made me smile. This verse is Naomi speaking to Ruth, after Ruth has gone to Boaz and asked him to become her husband and through her, provide Naomi with an heir (since both of Naomi's own sons had died.) It was the tradition of the day that if a married man died childless, his closest male relation would take the widow as a wife and any children born from their union would be considered the heir of the dead man. Got that? Yeah, I know, it's hard for us 21st century gals to relate.

Ruth 3:18

"Then she said, "Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day."

That just cracks me up. I think it must have been obvious to Naomi that Boaz was smitten with Ruth. After all, we know that Ruth was lovely, that she was hard working, and that she was well known as a "virtuous woman." Being called a virtuous woman in Ruth's day expressed the same sentiment that was meant when a man was called "a man of great wealth." In other words, it was very high praise indeed. I just love the picture of a smitten Boaz, deliberately setting out to clear the final hurdle that lay between him and claiming Ruth as a wife. If you want the details, Read chapter 4. Boaz was a pretty crafty guy.

And to top off the book of Ruth, we even have a fairy tale ending. Ruth and Boaz get married, and Ruth becomes pregnant with a son, providing Naomi with an heir. The best part of all? Ruth, who started out as a foreigner, a Moabite, gets grafted in to the family line of the King of Kings--Jesus. Wow. Disney ain't got nothin on God.