Cinderella

With the start of the summer term at BYU, my wife and I have a lot more free time on our hands.  Because we, like many BYU students, love Disney movies, we've decided to start from the beginning and watch all the films produced by Disney studios.  I'm impressed with the art of animation - seeing all of the development of the techniques has been fun.  Along the way, my wife and I keep looking at each other and saying, "I don't remember that part!"  Tonight, Cinderella gave us one of those surprises.

After the clock strikes twelve, the prince tries to stop Cinderella from leaving. She has to find an excuse to leave before the magic wears off, and she says, "I haven't met the prince!" 

WOW!  I had forgotten this: Cindy didn't even know that the man she had fallen in love with was the Prince! Lesson 1, get to know the person before you fall in love.  Really, that's a big detail to miss in an honest relationship.

But there's a bigger lesson here. Cinderella didn't go to the ball looking for a prince. She didn't go so she could fall in love and have someone by her side. She was there because it was a ball, and she wanted to have a dance party.  That's what she was looking for, a fun night.  She seems to have thought, "I'm going to have a fun time BY MYSELF.  And if a boy comes along, I won't complain."  She wasn't trying to force a relationship and find someone to love, but in the end, she found her Prince Charming. Neat, huh?  

I don't mean to say that you shouldn't look for love: by all means, please, look.  But, if you think you'll only be happy once you have someone else, you're going to have a hard time.  That seems to have been the attitude of Cinderella's step-sisters, and it didn't work out well for them. When you are happy with who you are on your own, it is much easier and much more likely for you to find love.