They can say anything!
Last night, I'm not even sure how it came up, but Hannah started talking about God. She asked where God lived. We talked about how He lives in Heaven, but we believe He is also here with us. We just can't see him. We don't actually know what He looks like.
So I asked out of curiosity, "Hannah, what do you think God looks like?"
Her response, "Well...I think maybe He could be a princess....or maybe like a cat or a dog...or...um... actually, I think God is like Belle!", she ended confidently.
Interesting responses to say the least, but seems fitting she decided finally on God being like Belle in her mind.
She adores Belle! She is by far her favourite princess (and she is very into princesses right now). She loves to tell people how nice she is and how she taught the Beast how to love. And of course points out how beautiful she is!
Later on I started thinking about it some more. I love trying to see the world through a child's eyes and it is so fun for her to translate things she learns about God into her own life.
Thing is, like God,
- Belle is beautiful
- Belle kept her promises (she did leave once without being let go, but came back)
- Belle showed unconditional love.
- She did not judge from the outside, but looked into the inside and saw the best in people/the beast
- She stood firm in who she was (did not change herself for the acceptance of people)
- Belle is incredibly patient
- Belle is forgiving
- She is selfless
- And the list could probably go on!
But my favourite thought of how Belle can show us a glimpse of God, is how she gave up her own freedom/life for that of another person.
Her father was in the Beasts dungeon and although when the Beast found her in his castle he gave her a way out, she cared more about her father and his well being than her own self. She offered up her whole life to be his prisoner so she could save her fathers life.
God did that for us. He cared more about saving us. He cared more about us having a chance to live life to the fullest and have eternal life and joy, than his own comfort and life. He sent Jesus down to earth where he would be hated, he would be shunned, he would be beaten and would have to die on the cross for us, so that we could be saved.
Not an exact parallel by any means, but...
Who knew we could get a glimpse of the beauty of God through a Disney princess!
