Cinderella
“She spins and she sways, to whatever song plays, without a care in the world.
And I’m sitting here wearing, the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It’s been a long day, and there’s still work to do. She’s pulling at me Saying ‘Dad, I need you
There’s a ball at the castle and I’ve been invited and I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?’”
These are the opening lines of the song “Cinderella” by Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman from his album ‘This Moment’. It’s a reminder that we tend to get caught up in the realities and demands of this world and can end up missing the simple joys and magic that are present in the moment; something that is apparent to us as children but seems to escape us as we grow older. It also serves to remind that each moment we have with our children (and grandchildren) is a blessing that we need to cherish and that we must reorder our priorities before it’s too late. All too often we live in daydreams of the past or striving for some future moment that may never come and we miss out on the here and now. The present moment is where we can find God and where we can experience the Kingdom of Heaven.
The world tells us that”there’s still work to do” that our worth is tied to our productivity and position. It becomes easy to put things off, to wait “until I take care of this first” but in doing that we risk missing out on what is truly important. How many times have we put aside our children’s appeal for our presence to them…and instead we work, or cater to the demands of others, often rationalizing that we are doing the right thing by making ‘things more secure’ for them. It isn’t the right choice, they don’t need the fruits of our labors, they need us. Too many IOU’s have been written that can never be redeemed. “I’m sorry I have too much work to do, I’m too busy now, I have a scheduling conflict so I can’t play …and so on.
Jesus said “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” He tells us that children are what is important. That they have the key to living into the Kingdom of God. That it is in the way children approach the world that we can find heaven. For in the moments that we share with them we truly fulfill our life’s purpose, because nothing is more important than spending time with our children. It is there we have the opportunity to experience the joy of the moment, to share in the blessing that we receive through our children. All we need to do is to choose the magic over the world.
“So I will dance with Cinderella while she is here in my arms, ’cause I know something the prince never knew. Oh, I will dance with Cinderella, I don’t want to miss even one song ’cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight and she’ll be gone.”
