By Lynn Heatley. A scene from Cinderella has been emerging in my spirit lately. It is the famous scene where the king’s primary servant is taking the famous “glass slipper” that had fallen off Cinderella’s foot (in her fast escape) to all the maidens of the land to see which foot the slipper fits into thus revealing who the true owner of the shoe belongs to. When arriving at Cinderella’s house, Cinderella was locked upstairs and her evil step-mother was trying to promote her own daughters into this position. As much as the two sisters tried and tried to cram their large feet into this dainty slipper, it was not to be. When they realized their efforts were futile, they tried to hinder Cinderella from ever getting the chance to try on the glass slipper by causing the servant to fall, thus breaking the glass slipper. But all is well in fairy tales as we recall the end of the story; of Cinderella’s supernatural deliverance from the dungeon as she remained in a place of humility, her running down the stairs announcing that she had the other slipper from the pair, thus proving she was the rightful owner and the one who the King was seeking (in order to marry his son).
Sometimes, it feels like we are like this in Christiandom; always seeking the coveted position of the owner of the glass slipper. But in God’s reality, we all have been given customized glass slippers by Our King to wear that no one else can fit into. Problems and chaos occurs when we esteem someone else’s slipper over our own. Jealousy and envy are strong motives towards evil gain.
I believe the Lord would have us become more and more anchored into the truth that we are all “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1) and that every single kid of the King has an assigned slipper and call. We would find the Kingdom advancing more rapidly if we joyfully pursued our own callings instead of trying to make something else fit us that we were never called to.
I pray that we can continue to find our contentment in God’s great love for each of us as individuals. Out of this place, we can fulfill the calling that the Lord has customized for each of us separately (2 Timothy 1) and we can learn to joy in the areas that the Lord has given us that is unique from others. As we each do our own part, the whole body is strengthened. There are glass slippers for each of the King’s kids, we do not have to compete as if there was only one pair.
Lord, I pray that You will bring us into deeper understanding of how You see us. Help us gain our identity in You alone. Please restrain us from fleshly pursuits of trying to gain positions that are not for us, simply to gratify our fleshly need for importance. Thank you, Jesus, that Your act on the cross for each one of us displays how much we are loved and esteemed by You. May we glory in nothing else but You, Your Cross and Your estimation of our importance. Amen.
For the glory of the Lord,
Lynn Heatley
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. Eph 1:3-6 (NKJ)
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,” 2 Tim 1:8-9 (NKJ)