One of the amazing things about little girls is their desire to be princesses. Having raised two boys, I did not spend a lot of time around little girls; that is, until Stella, my first granddaughter, came along. It was like she was genetically predisposed to like the color pink and all things princess-related. So I have entered into those once-mysterious pink aisles in the toy stores that stock all things of that genre. And I have a confession to make . . . it’s kind of fun! One time, we were playing with a castle I had bought for her, and she was doing the voices for all of her princesses: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Snow White, Belle, etc., while I was doing the voices of the princes who went with them, including my favorite: the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. Frankly, in these movies, the princesses get all the good lines. The princes, well they just show up and rescue the damsel in distress, either by killing dragons or singing some kind of song.

Now, not every little girl wants to be a princess, but many do. I sometimes wonder if this is not a longing for something or someone greater. No man, no matter how wonderful, will be your prince as you imagine him to be. If anything, he will probably turn out to be more like the reverse of the frog becoming a prince—he will turn out to be a frog. Or at least he will only be a man. Perhaps that longing of the little girl’s heart, for a knight in shining armor, is a longing for a “greater prince”—the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Lords Himself. The little girl (and little boy, for that matter) longs for more than any person can bring. They long for God. And one day, our Prince will come. He will establish His kingdom on this earth and that dragon called Satan will be defeated.

And guess what? We will indeed “live happily ever after!”