Take a Lesson from Cinderella

Forgiveness.

It may not change the past, but it has great possibility to change the future.

I loved a scene in the live-action movie Cinderella that came out in 2015. At the end of the movie, the prince finds Cinderella (despite the wicked stepmother’s attempts to lock her up), the glass slipper fits and she has been rescued. As Cinderella moves toward the door and embraces her “happily ever after,” she stops, turns around and approaches her wicked stepmother who stands on a staircase watching her leave. I remember watching this moment unfold thinking to myself, “Ok, Cinderella. Let her have it! You go, girl!” Ok. Maybe those weren’t the exact words playing out in my mind, but it was close. However, Cinderella takes a very different approach. She looks at her stepmother, smiles, and simply responds, “I forgive you.” She then walks out the door.

This scene literally took my breath away. She was ready to embrace her new life and she knew in this moment that taking the past – all of the hurt, the deception and bitterness – and carrying those things into her new life would not bring her the “happily ever after” she so desperately longed for. She knew she needed to let go of it all in that room and walk out the door being freed from the hurt she had experienced.

Remember. Easter is about embracing the freedom we all find through what God did for us all through the cross of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness begins within. Remember what I shared last Sunday. We can’t fix anyone, all we can do is point them to Jesus Christ. The only life we can control is our own. If there’s sin in our lives, we must do something about it. We have to! On the other side of confession comes forgiveness from our Heavenly Father. From there? Freedom.

Here’s to more “hands open” moments where we let go of what’s weighing us down so we can truly take hold of what God so freely gives us through His love and mercy.