TTA Takeover: Brighton Cook

STP Devotional for the Week of 03/02/26

Hey everyone! My name is Brighton, and I’m a TTA for this year's Monday 8-13 class “Rumpelstiltskin: A Tale of Gold."

I’ve been at STP for about 5 years now and it has been such a blessing in my life, giving me some of the fondest memories, friendships, and life lessons I’ve ever received. I love the opportunity that was presented with this TTA Takeover. These devos are always so creative and unique to each and every person who writes them! So having this new chance to share a little bit of my own experience, I wanted to make it so very perfect just as others have done.

Funny enough, this TTA Takeover is inspired by my desire to have a perfect TTA Takeover. Whenever I started working on it, it was just never quite right. I’d always be hit with the thought, “That’s not good enough,” or “It could be better.” Unfortunately, I believed these lies and proceeded to start over. Soon enough with the next attempt I was hit with, “But, it could be even more creative, right?” I then, again, proceeded to start over. This pattern continued constantly with the development of the paper, and this “blessing” I had received so excitedly, started to become a burden. No topic would suffice, and my wording never was impactful enough. I could not be satisfied with anything I wrote.

However, when I was riding home from STP on Monday, four days before this was due, I was completely at a loss. Something hit me though, have I truly given this to God? I realized that in every way I was trying to make this my perfect devo. I hadn’t truly let God “takeover” this takeover. The truth was God didn’t want me to create my TTA takeover, but His. In that car ride I let go of this “burden” and let God take the pen and paper. This gave me such an overwhelming sense of freedom from the matter. It allowed me to see this as the opportunity it was again, rather than an obligation. With that, God helped me realize, I was in fact playing out a theme from Rumpelstiltskin without even realizing it!

In this story we will display on the stage this week, we have a character by the name of Evangeline. She is one who takes joy in the gifts God has given her and will share them with anyone. However, her parents give her the pressure of being the absolute “best” servant. After a while Evangeline unfortunately buys into the lie that she has to earn her place serving the King. When this belief takes root in her, she gives up the God-given gifts that wouldn’t “earn” her glory, and goes for a more looked upon gift, weaving.

One day after long years of training to be the most incredible weaver, she makes a mistake. She had made an impossible lie in front of the King (who was disguised) that she could spin straw into gold. Now with the knowledge that she could, in fact, not spin straw into gold, the obvious answer was to give up and tell the truth. There was a problem with admitting though, it would make her imperfect. In fear of such a possibility, she recklessly stands by her lie and finds herself asked to make straw into gold by the King. Without the ability to keep her request she turns to a small mischievous man by the name of Rumpelstiltskin. He is able to spin straw into gold but only for a price. The longer and longer she refuses to admit her inability and ask Rumpel for more help, the worse the consequences start to become. Rumpel puts lies in Evangeline’s head of her having to stay perfect or else the King wouldn’t accept her. What started as a necklace for a price progresses to something much MUCH worse. I don’t want to spoil it, but if you’ve read the fairytale, you know it’s quite horrifying.

Now Evangeline, who originally wanted to serve the King with her whole heart, finds serving burdensome and unenjoyable. She is unwilling to see she cannot be perfect and, as a result, finds herself overwhelmed with the pressure of keeping the reputation. However, throughout the entirety of her attempts, the King has been desperately seeking her out. Every single time the King asks for more of this golden thread, he gives her the opportunity to confess. He wants her to give up trying to be the best and let him take the wheel. Yet she continually refuses, afraid of losing her ability to be the King’s servant.

It can be extremely hard at times to let God handle our lives. We want to have a certain hold on everything to direct our lives how we think they should go. I, with this takeover, wanted so desperately to have it perfectly written. People would hear the takeover and just think “Wow! He knocked that one out of the park!” However, it made me lose sight of what the point of the takeover was in the first place, a chance to share the Gospel. Never once was this paper supposed to express my name, rather shout out the Lord’s. Just as Evangeline lost sight of what serving the King actually was, viewing it as a chance to be someone great, I had lost sight that this was meant to serve the Lord. God was graciously seeking me out, asking me to trust Him and to listen for His instruction for what I should write. Yet I stubbornly held on to the takeover trying to make it some perfect little piece of Brighton’s work. It took me so long, even to the day of it being due, to truly let God take my mess of “perfection” and make it His perfect work. A couple verses that resonate God’s perfection and how one should depend on Him is Psalm 18:30 ESV which reads,

“This God–his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”

and Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV which says,

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Despite my refusal and ignorance, God still delivered me. He didn’t turn away from me and leave me alone. Instead, the moment I turned to God, desperately seeking out His words and understanding, He met me before I even took one step towards Him. God waited patiently for me to realize and confess I needed Him. He didn't want me to confess to shame me or because He wanted me to realize I was some failure who messed up. He wanted to free me from the lies of perfectionism I had bought into, and to relieve me of the burden I had placed on myself. He allowed me, even though I was so stubborn, to be able to complete this takeover.

Although I was able to break out of the lies being fed to me, Evangeline in our musical has a lot more trouble seeing through the lies Rumpel tells her. She continually depends on her own understanding and refuses to hear the King’s longing for her repentance. He is standing there with open arms to receive her; all she has to do is let him. Will she give up everything and let herself be vulnerable? Come to Rumpelstiltskin this week to find out!