Beauty and the Beast has been one of my all time favorite movies since I was a child. Belle was always my favorite princess. She was kind, strong, smart, and courageous. She liked books and she didn’t quite fit in with the people in her village. She saw the beast at some of his worst moments, yet, she was able to look past his faults in order to see who he truly was. She put in effort and took the time to learn that He wasn’t as scary as he looked, or even as scary as he acted. She discovered that the beast that was on the outside was the opposite of what was on the inside. Belle brought out the Beast’s best qualities, and he brought out hers.
Love. It’s a tale as old as time and a song as old as rhyme. Love is a surprise, appearing when least expected. It’s something every girl dreams of finding at some point in her life. A beautiful love story like Beauty and the Beast. A love that goes beyond appearance, beyond the mask, beyond the horns and the walls, illuminating the truly beautiful person that you can’t hide when that person is around.
I’ve found my love everlasting. His love surrounds me and fills me in the most unexpected ways. It comforts me, and gives me peace, when I need it the most. It glows in the way he smiles at me, illuminating me with an unshakable joy. It flows around me when he talks and laughs. It’s evident in the gentle way he brushes away my tears, and his comforting, protective embrace. His love is constant and ever present, even when I am not lovable. I would follow this love anywhere He leads me.
This love is as old as time. It’s crazy, relentless, and completely underserved. It’s a love that we can never prepare for, and a love we can never earn. It’s sure and true.
The best part?
We all have this love that is more than a tale, and older than time. Belle and the Beast and married/dating couples are not the only ones that have a love like this. We all have this love (even us single ladies) whether we know it or not.
This love created us. He sees every single one of our faults, and He loves us anyway. Whereas Belle sacrificed herself to the dungeon and the unknown terror of the Beast, Jesus Christ died a completely undeserved, painful death for us on the cross. He was tortured for us. He died for us, so that we could begin to grasp His undying love for us.
This is the love that started time. This love is timeless, unending, relentless, and unchanging!
When we embrace this love, we admit that we were wrong. We accept that we’re not perfect, and we see that because of this love, we can change because even when we think that the last petal has fallen, we can still come to know Him. We begin to bend in unexpected ways, giving up our plans like Belle gave up hers. We abandon our masks, and seek to love others, including the “beasts” in our own lives. We seek Jesus in all that we do and in all that we are, in order to fully embrace this love.
When we do, the sun will certainly rise!
Sure, we may still hope for a “Beauty and the Beast” kind of romantic love, and I pray that someday I have that, but if I never do, then I am content in being loved by The One, my Heavenly Father, my everlasting Savior.
For His love is the tale that began time, and the tale that lasts for all of time.
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