2012 December 11 (Tuesday) : Old Fashioned

I must confess to having felt frustrated with a princess today.  I am fortunate, however, to be in the privileged position of having easy access to Godly guidance and council and the “good old fashioned family values” of "John Denver’s Grandma." I imagined his world of Grandma’s feather bed to be exactly like this.  I have seen signs that speak of a charmed childhood – “Granny and Grandpa’s house – unlimited hugs and kisses,” and the promise that “Dreams come true in Grandma’s house.”   A princess today spoke to me in tears and sobs of her past and the way blind would-be suitors took advantage of her and took her for granted.  I know that I am also to blame for the wrong attitude that sees women as objects rather than people, an attitude that allows a world that concentrates on their beauty but denies them the respect and honor they deserve.  A world that focuses on fantasies rather than giving the honor and respect that royalty deserves.  I am as weak as any other man and can see the Lord is calling me to do something about this wrong attitude.  He is showing to me the iniquitous lust in my own heart and leading me to His higher calling.  In his book “Wild at Heart” I remember John Eldredge speaking about the nature that God placed in the heart of a man.  A heart of adventure that seeks the pursuit and the capture of the heart of a princess.  It has been a while since I read it, but I seem to remember he reported that this pursuit should be a lifetime adventure.  Indeed, I have seen this as a daily occurrence in the lives of the most successful men at marriage. 

Men who court their princesses after marriage, who do not see the marriage day as a conquest, but the continuation of a lifetime of wooing, of passionate pursuit.  The Lord has shown me a phenomenal thing recently.  He never commanded women to love their husbands.  He commanded MEN to love their wives – Ephesians 5:25.  He knew that if that was done, women open to them as a flower opens to the sunshine.  I believe the Holy Spirit explained it to me as follows:- He never commands fish to swim, birds to fly, or cheetahs to run, they were CREATED to do that.  In the same way, He CREATED Eve to respond to Adam’s love for her, to be there for him, to be his companion, help meet, princess. He created that response in a woman’s heart just as he created the poetry in a woman that attracted Adam to Eve.  That poetry that attracts every man to a beautiful woman like a flame attracts moths.  That poetry that the devil has corrupted to use in pornography and the lie from the pit of hell itself that this is the only thing a woman is good for.  I feel the Holy Spirit is calling to my soul and saying “Enough! Real men treat ALL women as princesses.”  In the words of Shania Twain, “If you want to touch her, ASK.” The realization that if she answers no, she does NOT mean yes.   Give a woman the respect and honor she is due and we can fix the world and it starts with ME as a MAN.

So, back to my frustration with a princess.  I confess to my own sin of impatience, since my own heart has never been broken like hers has.  And not once, not twice, but three times – a cruel tortuous ordeal from the pit of hell and I WILL be there to rescue her.  I AM the one to ride up to her tower put her on my white horse to take her away to my castle, to comfort her, to give her the time she needs for her broken heart to heal, to kiss away her tears, to hold her hand in mine and to show her that though real men in this world are heart-breakingly few, a dying breed perhaps, a precious remnant, we are still to be found and we need to RISE UP and tell the kingdom of darkness, “NO!” “Not on MY watch, I am NOT okay with that.”  

The Bible says in Romans 5:7-8 that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This, to me, speaks of a calling so high above the sinful heart of a man, that it can only be accomplished with the help of the downward extension of the hand of God Himself.  I have been repeating the prayer recently, “Father, let me see as You see, hear as You hear – break my heart with what breaks Yours.”  Kind David in Psalm 51:17 says "The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God."  I feel the heart of God is breaking over the pain and hurt that His princesses are feeling in the porn industry.  Something WILL be done.  Here I am Lord, send me.

Kim and I went to a prayer meeting at church after our day together.  She was given some fuel cards by a friend at church who I have had the privilege to meet, Tia.  I saw her break down and cry as her prayers were answered in front of my eyes and I saw her sobbing with happy tears as she realized that God Himself “has her back.”  She was too emotional to drive home without a stop off to cry and have her heart mended by the Holy Spirit some more.  I confess to having been exhausted even before we left for that prayer meeting and I confessed my own sins to God in that prayer meeting of self-centeredness and unbelief. I came back, however, recharged by the Holy Spirit, since it is always a privilege to watch the Lord at work, watching a princesses’ heart be mended by the One who made it in the first place, to watch her listening to His confirmations to her through the lyrics of the Christian music station that she loves and has evidently been listening to for years.  I watched the tears stream down her face and felt them on mine as she sang along to the words and realized that the words “take all the time you need” spoken by Kirk Cameron’s character in “Fireproof,” are such an open door for the Holy Spirit to work on a princesses’ emotions and for Him to heal her heart.  Sometimes I remind Kim that she is a princess, the Lord sees her as a princess, that I see her as a princess, that she should care NOTHING for what the world said or says about her, that she is going to her future and NOT her past. I explained while she can learn from her past, it is NOT to hold her back from the glorious present and future that the Lord has for her. When I did, she told me, “If I am a princess, what does that make you?”  “A prince, Kim,” I reply, sometimes only half believing, but realizing that she has far less guile in her heart than I have in mine.  Thank you, Princess.  You have shown me the heart of God and answered MY prayers.