Are fairy tales real?

Happily-ever-after is only true because of the promises of Jesus.

Melanie Rittierodt

“Once upon a time” is the beginning of my favorite story lines in books. This phrase brings hope that there will be a happily-ever-after for the characters of each book.

An important lesson that I have learned in my life is that the fairy tales we see in movies and read in books are nonexistent. However, God has a happily-ever-after for us. It will have faith, trust, and hope, but no pixie dust.

The authors of many fairy tales don’t tell you that the lives of the characters are not always what they seem. Disney characters never have it easy. Cinderella was only a scullery maid. She was treated poorly and had no one but mice to talk to. Snow White was poisoned by her stepmother. Simba witnessed his father’s death.

God never promised us a movie-star life, where we have the perfect hair and the perfect person to stand by us. He knows that because we have him in our lives, the devil will work even harder to take us away from him.

My mom battled with cancer for six long years and those years finished their course with her death last year. From that day on, I have learned to take care of myself and provide for myself and my family. Like Wendy Darling in Peter Pan, I take care of my two younger brothers, who need all the help they can get sometimes. I am not just the big sister in my house. I am the woman of the household. I feel like Cinderella, constantly taking care of my family along with myself; there is always something left undone. The fairy tale of a perfect high school career is only a dream.

In a way that I have yet to understand, God has put this tragic event in my story to help me. And, in some crazy way, the two childhood stories of Peter Pan and Cinderella have stuck with me and have almost become my reality. God works in mysterious ways. He knew that this tragedy would cause a stumbling block for me.

“ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 29:11). This verse has rung in my ears ever since that day my life turned upside down. One day all I had to worry about was getting to work on time. Now my life isn’t just me anymore. I have my brothers, dad, and my own future to think about. I had planned my life according to the endings of my favorite fairy tales, but the ending to a story doesn’t take place until the plot is finished.

Are fairy tales real? No, at least not the fairy tales that we see on the silver screen. We don’t have the simple life of happily-ever-after. The world doesn’t give us our fairy tale; it gives us our story. God is the one who gives us our fairy tale. When our time is over and our story is complete, we will be with God and see Jesus our Savior sitting at the right hand of God. That is where the fairy tale begins. But it won’t be a fairy tale. It will be the reality of everlasting life in heaven.

Melanie Rittierodt, a junior at Evergreen Lutheran High School, Tacoma, Washington, is a member of Light of Life, Covington, Washington.

Author: Melanie Rittierodt
Volume 103, Number 10
Issue: October 2016

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