Friday, December 19, 2014

Advent Devotions from Once Upon a Time, Part 2

I wrote here about part of my thoughts on the winter finale of Once Upon a Time.  There was another plot line from the episode that struck me as well.

All season, Regina, i.e. the Evil Queen from Snow White, has been desperate for a happy ending.  As she looks at all the storybook characters around her, she see that the villains never end up happy.  This is devastating to her as her heart has changed and she's turned away from her former evil ways.  The episode ends with her adopted son Henry finding the home of The Author, the one who they believe wrote all of the fairy tales.  They hope to find him and have him write a happy ending for Regina.

I thought of Psalm 52 as this portion of the episode unfolded:
Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
    in burnt offerings offered whole;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

God is the true Author of our stories.  Because of the fall in Eden, sin entered creation, and God created us with free will to choose Him or not.  We all choose against God, and that makes us all villains in a sense.  But God didn't leave us without a way for redemption.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who so ever should believe in Him would not perish but would have life everlasting.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17

Jesus is our redemption.  Jesus gives us our 'happily ever after' when we choose to let Him change our hearts.  Oh, it may not be the world's version of happily ever after, but we have eternal life with Him.  Heaven-a place so extravagant and elaborate that John could only describe it through allusions in Revelation because he lacked the words to truly do it justice.  Can you even fathom?! 

I'm so grateful for the tiny Babe who was born to rewrite my story so I can have the best happily ever after that I can't even imagine.  Rejoice world, for we have seen a great light! Isaiah 9:2

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