Remember the princess and the pea? The real princesses and postulants of Cor Unum asked themselves yesterday, “What am I given, that I must hold fast?” The storybook princess was troubled all night long by that little pellet, and we who belong in Cor Unum “cannot rest” until we know of a certainty that we value what God has given and guard and keep it steadfastly.

         It has been given to us to keep ourselves in the love of God. Look at all the “come to Me” and “draw near” Scriptures we saw yesterday!   We wear the circlets of lovingkindness and compassion on earth.

         To us it has been given to walk in the light as He is in the light, and we are those who may “know Him,” and that He is the God “who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. (Jer. 9:24)

         We cannot know with certainty whether Queen Vashti thought she “could get away with” her insubordination, or if perhaps she thought she had the king tied around her queenly finger, or if she just didn’t care anymore. We do know that she made a stand before the women to the shame of her husband.

         What we know about our own royal position is that none of the above must ever apply to us, not in our homes or the heavenlies. The crime of passion, as Lord Peter Wimsey did so succinctly say, is to be joyless. Even and especially in times of marital distress, even when the pea under the mattress is a trial by fire, we are radiant with the glow of love . . . of being loved! Ironically, few things are more seductive to a man than a woman who responds to him and respects him because she is loved, instead of testing that love to the breaking point.  Thank GOD that our God has moved His breaking point beyond our selfishness and insecurity.  Thank Him all the more for the terrible discomforts they cause us, be the mattresses ever so many.

The Princess and the Pea

Edmund Dulac, public domain