>>> lessons from under the sea <<<

if you were to have a conversation with my daughter, you would quickly gather that she is head over heels in love with the little mermaid. i mean, in love. we talk about eric and ariel all the time. we wear ariel princess jammies. we eat on an ariel placemat. we listen to the little mermaid read-along book in the car {every.time.we.drive.anywhere.}
it is probably one of my favorite things about having a girl. especially since when i was a little lady, the little mermaid was my first favorite too. and just like me, there is nothing in that movie that even scares mags. she just sits, wide eyed and in wonder while she watches the whole thing. 

Source: dippedinf0lly.tumblr.com via Rosie on Pinterest

 last week i had a friend and her daughter come over and we somehow got on the topic of disney princesses { i mean, its not hard to do since they are literally scattered across my house..} and she brought up the point that while the little mermaid is a cute movie, ariel is totally disrespectful to her father, disobeys him, complains all the time about her life, she is sinfully discontent with her life and trades her soul to get what she wants. now, this is something that i have been noticing since we have been listening to the story over and over in the car. one day, i asked Jesus about it while we were driving and urged me to talk to my two year old about the way that this princess was treating her daddy. i told maggie about how what ariel was doing was wrong, that she should not treat her daddy so disrespectful and that she should listen to her daddy, because he loves her and wants what is best for her. i tried to explain that king triton knew that ariel would be in danger if she did not follow his rules. i talked to her about how ariel needed to be thankful for all the things that she did have, and that she should not have been longing for a differnt life than the one that she was given. 

i know. she is two. she really doesnt understand what i was saying, or the concepts behind what ariel is doing, but i felt that it was important to have these conversations with her now. and there was some benefit, now when ariel disobeys maggie looks at me and says, " no no ariel" so i know its sort of sticking. my daughter loves ariel, but i dont want her to be like ariel, so i want to make sure i am talking to her about the things she loves and holds in a place of worship. my deepest desire is that she will one day worship Jesus and know that she is a princess in the kingdom of God rather than worshiping a mermaid who wants nothing to do with the life she has been given or the daddy who loves her. 

will i stop letting my daughter watch disney movies? absolutely not. will i keep talking to her about the sin in these movies and use them to help show her how Jesus wants us to act? absolutely i will. i have been so thankful for this lesson. so thankful that i am already talking with my daughter about what she see's in movies. so thankful for the conversations that we will get to have about princess movies in the future. so thankful that Jesus loves us and pursues us more than prince eric ever pursed or loved ariel. and so thankful to share that truth with my daughter. 

xoxo