The 2015 adaptation of Cinderella portrays a young woman who lives her life by the motto that her parents taught her before they died: “Have courage and be kind!”
While thinking lately on what God wants from humanity, I was reminded of this message. Why did God put us here in the first place? Theologians explain that the Bible tells us that God was already a community of three persons in one being—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—that had perfect, infinite love within Them and They didn’t need any more. They created us so that more beings could share in this love. God’s heart was bursting with so much love that He wanted to share it with more people.
Jesus said that the most important thing in our existence is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.1 And courage is nearly as important, because it often takes courage to be loving, to do the right things, to protect others from harm, and just to face the struggles of everyday living.
It took God infinite love, and also infinite courage, to send His Son into our broken world as a tiny baby, to walk our dusty roads, and to share in our sorrows and diseases. And it took Jesus infinite love, and infinite courage, to go through the pain of life, and the torture of death on the cross so that we could have eternal life!
The movie taught that Cinderella couldn’t have endured all the hardships she had to go through without these two important virtues, and I’m convinced that neither can we. We must choose to walk hand in hand in kindness with others, even when we don’t know the way ahead. And we must be courageous to face whatever comes our way, with the faith that our heavenly Father is leading us in His love and wisdom.
- See Matthew 22:37–39.↑