Princess

It was a party fit for a princess...and a super hero. I know, I know. Everyone knows it's "Birthday Month" or as recently dubbed by Prince Charming, "FebruCarrie." I rather like that! However, I am forced to share. My one-and-only brother-in-law has a birthday just 3 days prior, so in true family fashion we had a combined party. There were princess banners and plates, but not to be out-done by the complimenting Spider Man-themed party paraphernalia.

More importantly, the boys had Spider Man masks while the girls donned Princess Crowns. Yes, Princess Crowns. My little man has been EMPHATIC about mommy wearing her crown and this has gone on for weeks! Even on a birthday outing Saturday, he insisted I keep my crown on the entire car ride to our destination. I lost count of the odd stares I got at the stoplights. In true princess fashion, I just smiled and waved.

My almost-two-year-old niece has recently become OBSESSED with all-things-princess. Cinderella is on repeat in her DVD player. She lines up her princess dolls at the entrance of the castle and has a Cinderella baby doll she treats as royalty. The minute she laid eyes on the crown I was wearing she pointed and exclaimed "PRINCESS!" She wanted to be crowned too. I placed a crown on her precious little curls and she beamed proudly. I'm not going to lie - we had a little moment. From one princess to another, I was relishing the sweet tenderness of holding a little girl.

As I watch my all-boy play with this little girl, I am struck by the obvious differences. They're as close as brother and sister, and while my son makes regular comments about how pretty she is or the fact that my crown makes me look beautiful, he's certainly not going to be caught with it on. He succinctly fulfills every part of the definition of "boy."

But this barely 2 year old dainty little girl has something inside her that so innately screams for the crown. She's a princess and she knows it.

I'm struck by this phenomenon, and as a daughter of the King of Kings I've long been taught my place in His royal court. I blogged the verse as I was ringing in my birthday, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God..." I Peter 2:9 

You'd better believe there's room for toddlers in tiaras because even little girls know they're meant for royalty. And more than just that, there is an innate longing created within us that desires to be treasured, honored, loved, prized, and treated as someone's queen.

I've listened to the heart-cries of women, broken, battered and abused, longing for the lover of their soul to swoop in on the white horse and carry them off into their happily ever after. I've witnessed the devastation experienced by those empty, lost, lonely, longing, insecure and feeling less than perfect. I know. I've dreamed the same dreams...and cried the same tears. Do you know I heard a statistic the other day that more than 70% of women say if they're having a bad hair day it affects their entire mood and day?! I'm sure to be one of them.

Even on my unloveliest of days (we're talking so far beyond just a bad hair day) the one thing I know to be true is I was created and chosen to be royalty. And as part of His royal court, I am given this promise found in Psalm 45:11, "The king is entrhalled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord." Oh yes, there it is.

When I feel unloveable, He loves me.
When I feel unworthy, He redeems me.
When I fall, He rescues me.
When I am abandoned, He is with me.
When I'm weak, He's my strength.
When I look in the mirror and hate everything about myself, He looks upon me as His treasured creation (Psalm 139) and His chosen daughter (1 Peter 2:9) and He, the King over all, is enthralled with my beauty!

Wear the crown. Be the crown. You ARE the crown! Because you, daughter, are a child of the King ... and that makes you His princess!