Disney princesses and storybook figures like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and the Seven Dwarfs can help us actively prepare for the coming of Christ, the Prince of Peace.
By Lauren Heaton
29 November 2017
Advent is a season of active waiting, not penance. What does it look like to be actively waiting? Perhaps we can take a note from the 10 wise virgins who were prepared in their waiting, bringing enough oil to light their lamps while waiting for their bridegroom to arrive at a late hour. I don’t know about you, but that seems a bit foreign to me. There are a few other women, however, who give me a more relatable image of what it looks like to be actively waiting: Disney princesses.
Yes, Disney princesses can teach us how to actively wait for Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, to come this Advent season. From Sleeping Beauty to Rapunzel, these princesses all dance around their forests, singing about “Someday my Prince will come.” Jesus is our prince who is coming!
Now, when these princesses aren’t singing in the forest they are hard at work cleaning their homes. As a kid, I always knew the holidays meant preparing for guests to arrive and cleaning the house. Like the WHOLE house. I most definitely channeled my inner Cinderella, singing as I dusted, swept, etc. I tried to find joy in the menial task of cleaning the house.
We can take this same approach to Advent. We might want to clean house a bit and make that cliché “room in the inn of our hearts.” Except this isn’t the downtrodden cleaning of our hearts we might do in the season of Lent. No, during Advent let us sing joyfully as we clean! Whistle while we work, as the Seven Dwarves in Snow White would say.
I encourage you this Advent to find your own “Happy Little Working Song” as sung by Giselle in the movie Enchanted, to sing over and over as you move through the holiday season. Find a way to incorporate the love of Christ into your every day. Memorize a Bible verse you can repeatedly pray over in between sending emails at work. Find a song like “Make Your Home in me” or “He’s in the Waiting” to sing in your head while you fold the laundry. Print out a Charlie Brown Christmas comic strip and tape it to your bathroom mirror to remind you what this season of waiting is all about!
Whatever you do as you wait for our Prince to come this Advent season, do it with joy!
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Photo Credit: Alana Hollenbaugh. Used with permission.
Lauren is a young Catholic professional working in the marketing industry. She loves working with high schoolers and leads a high school youth group. She is also passionate about leading a young women’s bible study, is on the leadership team for West Denver 2:42 a young adult ministry and sings at her church. Lauren is a modest fashion enthusiast, pancake connoisseur, promoter of faith and fitness, and lover of all things family oriented.
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