“Like mother, like daughter ….”
—Unknown
Sweet mother of Job—what an incredible autumn so far!! Last weekend Keith and I had the pleasure of going to the Lake of the Ozarks with my daughter and her boyfriend, who owns a condo down there, and WHOA, BABY, can you believe it was a deliriously balmy 85 degrees?? In OCTOBER, no less!! What a gift from God.
Uh, both the weather … and my daughter! You see Amy and I used to butt heads because she is a strong-willed girl with definite ideas (Keith’s genes, no doubt! :)), an admirable trait that was MOST evident when she was a toddler and I had to call Poison Control approximately 19 times. I know, I know … sounds like I was off somewhere taking naps, doesn’t it? Nope, I was right there every single time, never more than twenty feet away and sometimes only twenty inches! Like the time I was cleaning the bathtub with Comet and I set the container one foot away on the left of the tub? Yep, there I was scrubbing away when I snuck a peek over my shoulder to check on Amy. Sigh. She blinked up at me in her most angelic pose, her sweet smile ringed with Comet as if she’d just eaten a powdered donut. Fortunately, she only licked the cleanser lid because she was fine, but I am seriously surprised Poison Control didn’t send out a sheriff to follow me around.
Then there was the time I’d give our golden retriever his heartworm chewy pill every day. We had a system, Amy and I. I would hand the pill to her and she would give it to Bunker with a giggle when he licked her hand. Day after day, month after month, giggle after giggle—this was the routine. Sweet. Simple. And, oh SO stupid! Why? Because one day I handed the pill to my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, and she promptly popped it in her mouth and took off like Jackie Joyner Kersee on a good day. Lord, have mercy—I was sure the PC people would slap me into handcuffs and cart me away.
Even threats didn’t seem to stop my oral toddler. “Ame—do not touch the tree spikes, honey, because they’re bad,” I warned in my sternest voice, pounding the spikes in a perimeter around my sweet gum. Yep, you guessed it—Little Miss “She never tasted anything she didn’t like” was licking that sucker like a bomb pop from the melody-man ice cream truck. Whether yew berries and poinsettia leaves or a wasp sprayed with Raid and perfume, my daughter saw life as feast for the senses.
Okay, all right, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I did finally realize that whenever Amy popped something bad in her mouth, grinned and darted off—she wanted my attention. Why? Because despite how they try to convince you otherwise, moms are important to daughters. They want to emulate you, look like you and be like you, no matter how loudly they deny it in their teens. And God help us, what a heavy responsibility!! And one, thank God, that we do not have to shoulder alone. God is there every step of the way, not only helping us in our relationships, but in our own personal walk as well so that those who watch our every move—our children, our family, our neighbors, our church, and for we writers out there, our readers—will see HIM and therefore, God willing, hopefully emulate Him as well.
Don’t kid yourself that people aren’t watching, because they are, and NONE more than our own children. In Beth Moore’s Breaking Free workbook—which is AWESOME, by the way—she relates a story from the late Gilda Radner, one of the first female comics on Saturday Night Live, which illustrates a lesson every parent needs to heed. Apparently in her novel, It’s Always Something, Radner tells a story about her nurse Dibby’s cousin’s dog who was due to have puppies any day. As tragedies happen, apparently the mama-to-be got in the way of the lawn mower, and her two little hind legs were cut off. Of course, Dibby’s cousin raced the dog to the Vet and the good news is that both the dog and her puppies were saved. The bad news, however, was that the dog no longer had two back legs. Radner goes on to say that within a week, this amazing canine mama learned to walk by taking two steps in the front and flipping up her backside, two more steps in front, then another flip to the backside and so on. This resilient little dog gave birth to six puppies, all in perfect health. And when they learned to walk … every single one walked like her!
Okay, I don’t know about you, but that story rips me up because I may not be the perfect mother and a lot of the things I say and do are pretty “lame” to my daughter (pun intended), I know, but in the end she will end up “walking” like me in many ways whether she or I like it or not. And as God is my witness, I will do EVERYTHING in my power—and God’s—to teach her to walk straight and strong and according to God’s precepts. But the only way I can do that is to PRAY and APPLY His precepts in every single thing I do, every single day of my life. Because she’s watching … when I take time to read my Bible and pray, when I greet the Walmart greeter before they greet me, when I apologize to the checker for my rude tone and when I pray for 1-star reviewers who call me writing “scum reading.” Oh, yeah, she’s watching all right, and if I want people to say, “like mother, like daughter” about me and my girl, then by God—literally—I need them to say, “like Father, like daughter” about me as well. Because that’s where it begins—and ends—with the Alpha and the Omega. Which is why the picture above wrings tears from my eyes. Amy’s boyfriend took it this last weekend without our knowledge, while the two of us were praying for one of her friends. Oh, Lord, somebody please pass me the Kleenex …
Speaking of “Kleenex,” any of you aspiring writers out there may just want to check out my Seeker blog this week. My subject is “The Good, the Bad and the Really Ugly: Memories of a Published Writer,” where I talk about all the things I’ve learned to do and not do on the road to publication. And even you non-aspiring writers might like to mosey on over to leave a comment because I will pick one winner to have a character named after them in my next book, A Trust Restored, PLUS a signed copy of that book when it comes out next year or any of my books, PLUS winner’s choice of a top CBA book from my personal library. In addition, since it’s Seekerville’s birthday month, all comments accrue ALL MONTH LONG for prices like a Toshiba Netbook, a Kindle, gift cards, free books and more, so DON’T MISS OUT!!! My blog giveaway to have a character named after you ENDS by 5:00 PM today, Friday, so if you’re game, it’s best to get a move on, okay? Here’s the link:
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2011/10/good-bad-really-ugly-memories-of.html
AND … if you like to win free books, then do I have the website for you!! Hop on over on a daily basis to Fiction Addiction Fix, a daily updating of all the current book giveaways going on in the Christian market. This site is run by two dynamo aspiring authors, Debbie Lynn Costello (in pink sweather) and Kathleen L. Maher who are not only kind enough to compile the giveaways, BUT will feature your giveaway if you are an author looking to promote your book. So readers and authors alike, take advantage of Fiction Addiction Fix and put this site on your favorites like I have—you will be totally BLESSED by the ministry of these two lovely ladies. Here’s the link:
http://fictionaddictionfix.blogspot.com/
Finally … don’t forget to check out my website calendar on a regular basis because I have upcoming giveaways you don’t want to miss such as the following:
OCTOBER 11 to 23, 2011:
Join me at Book Reviews by Lady Katy blog for a Q & A session and a chance to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://katie-mccurdy.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-giveaway-julie-lessman.html
OCTOBER 18, 2011:
Join me at RomConInc blog for a sneak peek at A Heart Revealed and a chance to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://www.romconinc.com/http://www.katysreviews.blogspot.com/
OCTOBER 31 to NOVEMBER 14, 2011:
Join me at Debbie Lynne Costello’s The Sword and the Spirit blog for a chance to win a signed copy of my new release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://www.theswordandspirit.blogspot.com/
A HUGE THAN YOU TO ALL OF YOU who just signed up for Journal Jots through my Seekerville blog mentioned above—look for the winner in the Weekend Edition of Seekerville on Sunday at the following link:
http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com/
Until next week, have a great weekend and remember—we don’t want to be “LAME,” right??? So, let’s line our walk up with the Word of God!
Hugs,
Julie
