Or the ridiculous notion of Sleeping Beauty, a blonde-haired beauty who looks almost identical to Cinderella, falls asleep and can only be woken by “true love’s kiss.” Guess who this act of true love comes from? A prince who has had one flirtation with her (and again, they don’t know each other’s names)! But hey, she’s hot, so that must be what love is!
Quick, name me all of Prince Charming’s flaws. And all of Cinderella’s…
Name me all the flaws of a person you’ve flirted with one time for a few seconds…or that you lusted over on a page…or you dreamed about in your head.
Perfect, beautiful people and happily ever after
These are the model relationships our kids dream of thanks to Disney: perfect, beautiful people with no flaws and who always live happily ever after.
It’s the same reason Fifty Shades Darker (the Fifty Shades of Grey upcoming sequel) is the most watched movie trailer on the Internet and the same reason men continue to look at porn long into their marriages.
In reality, spouses turn out much different than Prince Charming or Cinderella. Riddled with disappointment, where else is one to turn than to the unlimited fiction of porn? Romance novels and porn draw us in because we allow ourselves to be convinced these things are real (by the thief Satan from John 10:10).
But reality always stings because at the end of the day, reality is all we have!
It’s time to embrace reality
Disney movies to a 3- and 4-year-old are relatively harmless, but porn certainly isn’t! Walking around with the mindset that you have to live off of fantasy certainly isn’t either.
The solution is found in facing, and embracing, reality. It’s found in being grateful for what God has given you, despite what you deserve from Him.
He’s holy, we’re not. We deserve hell, yet instead He lavished us with His grace. Not just grace for heaven (thank Him for that!), but also the daily graces that we typically never stop to appreciate. The grace of being single, or the grace of having a flawed spouse—both of these being much better than hell! Opportunities to thank God for giving us what we don’t deserve, rather than giving us what we do. Embracing the reality that all human beings are flawed, most especially the ones we know best like a spouse. To buy the lie that a future spouse (if you’re single) or a different spouse (if you’re married) will not have problems or will finally fulfill you is to fall into the thief’s trap of deception yet again.
Thank God for the life He’s given you and the fulfillment found in being His bride. The grass isn’t greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it. (And conversely, don’t be surprised that the grass beneath your feet has dried up and died when you’ve spent all your time watering la-la land.)
Jesus is the only charming spouse with no flaws you can live happily ever after with. Go to Him for the perfect relationship. Not to porn, not to romance novels, and not to Disney princes and princesses!