The Lilac Fairy

Ahhhh. I settled down in my seat beside my husband to watch The Sleeping Beauty. I was expecting to simply relax with the beauty of costume, music and dance. I certainly wasn’t looking for spirituality.

But shortly into the ballet, I was bowled over by spiritual truth. The evil Carabosse came to bring death to the princess and sadness to the kingdom. All this because she was not invited to the christening. She wove her black evil spell as she danced to and fro across the stage. And then, unexpectedly, and airily the smiling light-footed Lilac Fairy confidently came, wand in hand, and sprinkled mercy on the kingdom. They would not have death. They were merely sleeping and would awake one day with a simple kiss of the prince.

I felt the mother pain as the queen held her sleeping daughter in her arms and tried to no avail to awaken her. I later felt her joy as her daughter awoke to love and triumph in a life with her Prince.

My mind danced with ideas: I thought of C. S. Lewis describing this world as merely the Shadowlands. Heaven is our true home. Our King will come and awaken those who sleep in Jesus.

But most strongly I realized freshly a truth about this life. There is evil in the world. “In this world you will have tribulation.” Carabosse spreads death and destruction. And sometimes we are astonished because our failures in our fallen world seem as unpremeditated as forgetting to invite someone to a christening. And yet a terrible consequence is called down upon us just as it was upon the Sleeping Beauty.

But in his mercy God has sent his Holy Spirit, more beautiful even than the Lilac Fairy spreading mercy in our lives . . . until the day when we awake forever in the presence of our King." Our response to this truth can only be worship.

The contemporary song writer has expressed our worship response in a few simple words: …“Beautiful One I love. . . beautiful One I adore. . . My soul my soul must sing… my soul my soul must sing...
beautiful Lord...."