Story Time!

Some people are a little too cool for love stories.  Fortunately for me, "cool" has never been one of the top ten adjectives used to describe me.  Others are too cynical and jaded for love stories.  I hope that my inborn idealism, over the top and a trial at times, will at least keep me from that fate.

I am a sucker for love stories.  I am an even bigger sucker for true love stories (both stories of true love and love stories that are true).  Throw in some royalty for good measure... Oh, yes.  How could it not be a good story? Let me share one I just heard.  It's my new favorite.

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There was a king that fell in love with a peasant girl.  Normally, in fairy tales, this peasant girl is some renowned beauty.  In this case, there's no real consensus on what she looked like.  She was likely decent enough looking, but there was something about her essence, about who she was that drew the king to her in an irresistible way.   It wasn't that he saw blinding beauty or looked past outer ugliness to see inner beauty, it was simply that he saw her.

The obvious thing to do was to ask her to marry him.  He was the king, and he could make her marry him, but he didn't want to force her.  However, as he considered asking her to marry him, he became concerned about how she would fit in.  Granted, as the king he could give her all the riches that she lacked.  That didn't mean that she would be able to mentally and emotionally cross that gulf to meet him where he was.  He was also concerned that she might only say yes because she felt compelled to say yes since he was the king, or that she might say yes only to gain access to the riches he offered and not out of love for him.

Another option came to mind at this point.  That was the option to renounce his kingship and join her in peasant-hood. This would remove the gulf between them, and allow him to be with her where she was.  Still, if he did this, he might lose it all.  Once he had renounced the throne, she might not say yes.  She might see him as no more than any of the other peasants, and choose another one instead.  She might think he was a complete fool for giving up the throne and reject him because of his foolishness.  She might simply not love him and say no.

He had  a quandary.  Eventually he decided that she was worth the risk of losing it all, and that he would renounce the throne for her.  

The End.

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You want a resolution?  That's not the point of the story.  The point of the story is the illustration of true love that the king offered.  True love is not dependent on whether it is returned or whether they lived happily ever after.  Because this is a true story, keep in mind that if she did say yes, the story is ongoing.  "Happily ever after" is going to contain a lot of bumps in the road.  Her yes is not just on the day of their wedding, but every time something tough comes up, every time the hard work of living seems overwhelming and she wishes that instead of joining her where she was, he would have simply moved her into the palace with him.  Will she chose in that day to keep loving him?

You still need an ending?  Write it.  Christ the King has renounced his heavenly throne.  He has given it all up for love of you.  His offer is placed before you; will you accept it?  

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Note: I didn't make up the story (though I told it with my own words, since I don't remember it all perfectly), it was a part of the homily today.  The priest mentioned that he got it from Kierkegaard.