The Princess And The Pea...
The Princess and the
pea is a story by Hans Christian Anderson…
There
was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a real
Princess. He traveled right around the world to find one, but there was always
something wrong. There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real
princesses he had great difficulty in discovering; there was always something
which was not quite right about them. So at last he had come home again, and he
was very sad because he wanted a real princess so badly.
One
evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightninged and the rain
poured down in torrents; indeed it was a fearful night.
In the
middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself
sent to open it.
It was
a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and
the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the
top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess.
‘Well
we shall soon see if that is true,’ thought the old Queen, but she said
nothing. She went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea
on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the
pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses. This was where the
princess was to sleep that night. In the morning they asked her how she slept.
‘Oh
terribly bad!’ said the princess. ‘I have hardly closed my eyes the whole
night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard
thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!’
They
saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through
twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could
have such a delicate skin.
So the
prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real
princess, and the pea was put into the Museum, where it may still be seen if no
one has stolen it.
Now
this is a true story.
So maybe we think it’s unrealistic
right? Well not quite. There’s a King out there looking for a true
princess as a bride for His son. And today He still uses the test of the pea in the story. There are loads of princesses out there who aren’t true
princesses.
A true princess has a heart that’s
delicate, sensitive and pure. She has the life of her father living in her. Her
heart has been transformed from that of stone, which is unfeeling and
insensitive, to that of flesh… A new heart will I give you and a new spirit
will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
Her heart is so chaste, just like the delicate skin of the princess in the story.
The fear of God distinguishes her
from the impostors out there; it pushes her to do the things that please the
father. The new heart sends away the sinful and rebellious attitude of the old heart.
Thus just as the princess couldn’t
sleep with the pea under her mattress, a true princess heart is so delicate
that she is bugged out by a little discomfort of sin, one as tiny as a pea
sends her on a crazy frenzy of discomfort… bugged out and sleepless until she
runs to God to tell him what she’s done and how sorry she is. Because she
chooses to be the righteousness of God in Christ, her spirit/heart is delicate
and sensitive to anything that would contaminate it or cause her daddy to grieve
over her.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come 2 Corinthians 5:17
source... |
A heart of stone is cold and would
feel nothing even with a dozen peas and rocks tugging at it. It would lie without
blinking and cheat without missing a heartbeat… that outburst of anger, that
snide remark, that gossip, that little white lie would not convict a heart of flesh, and even if it did, it would be so hardened that it'd see no reason to ask forgiveness.
“…Don't you know that a little yeast leavens
the whole batch of dough? 1Corinthians
5:6
That 'little sin' left untouched is all it takes, just like yeast to
rise and take over the whole of our being. It’s all it takes to assist our downfall
from glory.
I mean if as a princess you can
comfortably sit in a club for hours without a little tug(even when you're not drinking or dancing) *kanye shrug*
A transformed heart would be bugged out about being at the wrong
place, a heart of flesh would convict a princess for stepping out of line, she’d
be so black and blue with discomfort that she’d run to daddy asking for mercy. "BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man
who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly
[following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and
inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where
the scornful [and the mockers] gather." Psalm 1:1(i guess we missed that memo)
Create
in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me Psalm 51:10
For the princesses wearing fake
crowns… It’s time to be the true princess you were created to be, to make the
prince stop rejecting you as His bride… “I have seen your abominations, your adulteries
and neighings, your lewd whorings, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O
Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?” Jeremiah 13:27 How long?
To the true princesses, hold on tight, even when you feel
beaten and out of sorts with delay, lack etc just like the princess in the story was beaten by the weather and drenched at the palace gate… (Many evils confront the [consistently] righteous, but the Lord
delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:19) Don’t be so carried
away with the issues of life and the struggles that you don’t notice the pea under the mattress. Keep
pampering your heart of flesh, spend time in the spa of the word and protect
it even in the raging storm…
Let the pea hurt, you never know when the true
test of your royalty is being played out.
Be an authentic bride of Christ... chosen by the King himself.
(i don't write this on a high chair of self righteousness, I speak this truth for myself too... As much as i'm saying, i'm saying to myself too.)
God Bless you Inyamu.....you hv spoken d truth.
ReplyDeleteTruth can be very bitter but it's just d truth.
This generation needs prayers....the sort of stories you hear of young girls being so desperate for material things just breaks my heart.
As u spread the word may God continually keep u.
wonderful!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete@IK , I'm sure our young men can learn from this as well, not just our girls.
ReplyDeleteInyamu, great post. Wake up call.
As always Inyamu, you amaze me with how you manage to simplify scripture and make it practicable :) A book calleth! Kudos dear.
ReplyDeleteNa true you talk. If the Holy Spirit dwells within us, there are some places we would never be comfortable going to.
ReplyDelete@ anon 11:04 thanks for adding.
ReplyDeletePlain truth..God bless you as always!!
ReplyDeleteInspiring Joy, simply Inspiring. God Bless you!!
ReplyDeleteHi Joy, Ill like this article for my column on http://studio6naija.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=41&Itemid=94 check it out and let me know if you're interested. beautifully written
ReplyDeleteagain.. wit Gods wisdom u ve woven deep biblical truth in2 common lines.
ReplyDeletethanks 4 dese truths
I absolutely adore this FQ. For its simple yet profound truths. As God's child, we must be as uncomfortable as he is around the smallest, tiniest appearance of sin. God's DNA abhors sin. If we are truly His, so should ours. This pricked my conscience
ReplyDeleteHnmn, instead of striving for perfection, we sometimes try to justify sin. We hoose the part we want to obey of God's bidding and it usually has repercussions. We sit on the fence. There's really no sitting on the fence with God, no middle ground. We're either in or out.
ReplyDeleteYou really should write a book (if you havent started already) You're gifted. Thanks for sharing
Inyamu ...I must confess,dis is very inspiring.God bless u.
ReplyDelete