A few weeks ago my husband and I went to a 3-day conference. As we waited for the doors to open on the first day I noticed a beautiful lady at the front of the line who was wearing a crown. I assumed that she was there to help present, and was probably local royalty from one of the pageants. I noticed that she was very friendly with all those around her. I waited through the conference for her to come to the stage to speak, but she never did.
The second day I again saw her wearing her crown and sitting near the front in the audience. By now I assumed she was local royalty and had been instructed to wear her crown to all public events. We happened to end up in the seats right behind her. Eventually we struck up a conversation with this woman and her husband. As it turned out, she had not won a local pageant recently, but wore the crown because she had one, and felt prompted to. I thought that was brave of her.
As my husband and I got to know this couple over the next two days, I began to notice that she carried herself and acted exactly as you might expect a loving queen to act. She seemed to want to get to know and love everyone she crossed paths with, just as a good queen would. She was confident yet humble, interested and invested in all she talked to. You could actually feel the love she had for you as you talked to her, even though she had never met you before. I noticed also that people who met her also treated her with great respect and kindness, as though she was truly someone royal. It was quite the experience.
It struck me that EACH of us really is royal. Is God not our father and king? Does this not make us royal as well? As we sat in the conference room on the last afternoon I imagined that every woman wore a crown, and that we were a room full of royalty. It took my breath away to imagine this. It made me feel part of something majestic and important. It made me feel lucky to associate with those people.
Since then I have tried to imagine a crown on the head of every woman I meet. (I realize that the men are as entitled to crowns as the women, and I am working up to imagining that as well.) It is amazing the way you look at someone differently as you imagine them as royalty. It has changed the way I see and treat people. It is truly an honor to meet and serve them. It feels like a privilege.
I realize also that I am better at imagining others as royalty than imagining myself as royal. This is not unusual for women. We tend to see our own value last. This shift is a work in progress. I have to do it in stages.
I invite you to give this visualization a try. You may have some amazing realizations. Try it on the checker at the grocery store, the people you see and associate with every day, and your server at the restaurant, or whomever you come in contact with. It truly will shift the way you see the world. Then try imagining it on yourself.
