Dethroned

Emily
Feb 27, 2014
4 min read

Updated: Apr 12

I don't know about all of you, but I love Dr. Seuss. BIG fan and not ashamed of that fact. (No lie -- one of the things I really looked forward to about becoming a mom was that it meant I would have a great excuse to read some Seuss.)

For those of you who aren't big on Dr. Seuss, I suggest you give it a shot. Not only are his stories silly, but they often have deeper life lessons and meanings. (And they tend to incorporate a lot of rhyme and other literary things that just make them all the more fun!) As an adult, I find myself picking up a lot of morals to the story that I was blissfully unaware of as a kid. There's a lot that can be taken away from Dr. Seuss's stories, and a lot of lessons that even we, as adults, could stand to learn.

So, I've decided that when something in a Seuss story strikes me as something insightful into our everyday lives, I will do an "Inspired by Seuss" blog post about it. I'll start with Yertle the Turtle. (For those of you who haven't read it, just click the link to take you to the text.)

The story starts in a great little place. They had what they needed. They were happy. They were content. Well, all but Yertle, who decided he wanted a higher position, from which a greater ruler he would be. He was king over all he could see.

So, he ordered his fellow turtles to stand atop one another so that he could be higher up. Despite their discomfort, he demands to go higher and higher. Yertle didn't care if he was being unfair. He continued his climb, searching for more, more, more -- certain he'd be happier than before.

As the story goes on, we start to see his attitude become quite nasty. Even though none other was as high as he, he still was far from happy. And then one little burp from the bottom caused it all to come down. The parting scene is of a sad, still so discontented King Yertle, sitting in the mud, sulking.

I don't know about you, but this whole story sure seems to remind me of people (myself included). People who think that they can Yertle their way to a happier day by just knocking down others along the way. People who think that more possessions, more power, more whatever, will somehow make them content. People who think that they can find true joy by building on anything other than Christ the Cornerstone.

...See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame...The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

1 Peter 2:6-7

When we build our lives on anything but Christ, we will never really be content. But with Christ as our Cornerstone, we can really rely on His grace, His provision, His joy. And when we do, we realize He is enough.

But we're human, and getting past our fleshly desires so we can depend on Him isn't always easy. In fact, I would argue that it can be quite an uphill battle against selfishness and our sinful nature.

It's worth it though. It's worth every bit of backlash the world will throw your way. (And believe me, it's not if they backlash...it's bound to happen.) But when you're content in Christ as your Cornerstone, who really cares what the world has to say about it? You won't.

If you feel you are following His will, what the world has to say about it won't weigh you down -- it won't really be able to. Because if you're confident in Christ, what the world wants won't matter.

But what about my throne, you ask. Well, technically it wasn't yours (or mine) to start with. We just booted God off (which we all tend to be guilty of at some point). This time though, we're the ones needing dethroned. And God needs rethroning.

For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:16-17

Give that throne back to God. He can do far better things with it than you or I (or anyone/anything else who shouldn't be on it) can. Plus, how much good for God can you actually do when you're perched precariously on a throne of turtles that's bound to topple over if someone so much as burps? Don't be silly and build your house on shifting sand. Rather, build a firm foundation on the Rock, that it may stand through hard times and hiccups.