Royal Musings

I know I’m not the only girl who gets a little day-dreamy when I read about royal wedding news. I’m obviously not, because it wouldn’t be every other news story if it wasn’t the event of the year and if it didn’t have some kind of audience. Us girls, we just can’t help it! Kate Middleton is a real life Disney princess, living the fairy tale of normal-everyday-girl-meets-prince-and-falls-in-love. I think we get infatuated with it because it seems almost too good to be true, too fantastical to be practical, but thinking about it and getting lost in the details and storyline is just too magical to pass up.

I grew up watching Snow White and Beauty and the Beast as every American girl has and should. Good, clean entertainment- maybe a little far-fetched, but I’ll be the last to dis imagination. It’s a child’s privilege and right! And there’s nothing wrong with being a grown-up believer, either. Because something struck me as I was thinking about British royalty just yesterday- we DO get to live the fairy tale, but a much more incredible, amazing, fulfilling, and REAL version.

Call me cheesy, say I’m a sucker for a good love story, but there’s a reason your heart beats wildly too as you live vicariously through Princess Kate. Every little girl wants to be a princess, and real life ones still make us starry-eyed, bedtime story dreamers as big girls. There’s something in your heart that the King of the Universe specifically put there that makes you feel that way, and it’s because you ARE a princess, a daughter of the King of Kings, and your inheritance is waiting for you in heaven. Girls were specifically crafted and created by the King to want a prince, to crave not only the love and affections of a prince, but to long to be protected, cared for, and made royal by our association with him; to be lavished with kingly gifts, dressed in the most royal of gowns, adorned with fine jewelry, and to be presented as the most beautiful gift in all creation to the man that has stolen our heart and who loves us completely and unconditionally. He created us to radiate His beauty, a most noble and high calling, but one that can only be fulfilled through complete submission to Him for His beauty to shine through.

There’s something missing in today’s stories of princes and princesses- they’re earthly. As perfect and mystical as they may seem, the prince is a rogue master and incapable of perfect love, and the princess is prone to vanity and deception. There’s something incomplete in their stories- even the most seemingly flawless royal marriages are laden with strife and iniquity, dissatisfaction and discontent. There’s pain in their stories as well. But their imperial standing and story still has something to it that makes us long to be princesses: they are poor, earthly reflections of the real thing, the story our hearts are longing for whether we know it or not. People write stories of fanciful kingdoms and love-struck princes and princesses because, whether they know it or not, they were made for it. We didn’t make up the story of boy meets girl, girl becomes a princess, they live happily ever after- God did. He wrote it in His Word and He wrote it on our hearts.

We love Kate because we relate to her (despite the fact that her family is rather wealthy). She’s ordinary, common, normal. But she met the prince, and as fate would have it, he was struck by her, enthralled by her beauty, stricken with affections for her and only her- he CHOSE her. We want that- to be chosen, to be known, to be seen as lovely, to be the token of the prince’s affections. Sometimes we think fairy tales are so far-fetched, so distant from reality, that they are other-worldly. They are-they are heavenly. The desires of your heart are honest and pure- direct them toward your King and not earthly kingdoms. The marriage we have/will have on this earth with our earthly “princes” are simply mirror reflections of the glorious marriage we have with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who anoints us as princess, calls us His own, places a crown upon our heads and a royal robe around our shoulders. As daughters of the King, we have the privilege of entering the presence of the Lord whenever we please; heirs to his kingdom and delight of His heart, unworthy as we are, He calls us chosen, redeemed, beautiful darling.

This wedding Psalm resounded with the whimsical thoughts in my little princess head this morning. Read it from a different perspective today- yours, that’s you- and let the King of Kings romance your heart. You have royal blood flowing through you, there’s a crown and beautiful diamond ring waiting for you in heaven, and your King, He longs for your heart and affections. He is jealous for you, beautiful bride.

Psalm 45

For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.^[b] A wedding song.

¹ My heart is stirred by a noble theme
   as I recite my verses for the king;
   my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

² You are the most excellent of men
   and your lips have been anointed with grace,
   since God has blessed you forever.

³ Gird your sword on your side, you mighty one;
   clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. ⁴ In your majesty ride forth victoriously
   in the cause of truth, humility and justice;
   let your right hand achieve awesome deeds. ⁵ Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies;
   let the nations fall beneath your feet. ⁶ Your throne, O God,^[c] will last for ever and ever;
   a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. ⁷ You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
   therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
   by anointing you with the oil of joy. ⁸ All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;
   from palaces adorned with ivory
   the music of the strings makes you glad. ⁹ Daughters of kings are among your honored women;
   at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰ Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention:
   Forget your people and your father’s house. ¹¹ Let the king be enthralled by your beauty;
   honor him, for he is your lord. ¹² The city of Tyre will come with a gift,^[d]
   people of wealth will seek your favor. ¹³ All glorious is the princess within her chamber;
   her gown is interwoven with gold. ¹⁴ In embroidered garments she is led to the king;
   her virgin companions follow her—
   those brought to be with her. ¹⁵ Led in with joy and gladness,
   they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶ Your sons will take the place of your fathers;
   you will make them princes throughout the land.

¹⁷ I will perpetuate your memory through all generations;
   therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.