"be extraordinary…"

"you have so many
extraordinary gifts,
how can you expect to live
an ordinary life…"

I have a small confession to make. From my first reading of Louisa May Alcott's classic "Little Women," I didn't dream of being the writer, Jo -- too bold. I didn't want to be the feminine beauty, Amy. I'd already lived the life of big sister: Meg -- thanks, but no thanks. And as much as I loved shy, retiring Beth, piano wasn't my forte. I wanted to be Marmee -- but I wanted to be the Susan Sarandon version of Marmee.

I wanted to be wise, rather than smart. I wanted to be the one to encourage, rather than lead. I wanted to seek inner loveliness, before fashion. Charity over wealth. I wanted to have daughters who would be little women. Daughters who would be devoted to one another, and improving the world they lived in. Daughters who would be amazing sisters. Daughters who sat tall in the saddle, and worked hard for what was right. We have been blessed with four daughters and a son. They are each extraordinary.

This weekend, our seventeen year-old twin daughters went to a local football game. In one photo from the event, they are with another friend -- someone they've known since preschool -- and in the lower corner of the photo you can see that our daughters holding holding hands. I was so moved by this precious reminder of how much they love one another.  They are amazing daughters, sisters, and friends - amazing global citizens.

Yesterday I pulled out our family's copy of the 1994 film version of "Little Women," with Susan Sarandon and Wynona Ryder. The above quote is from that film. It is what Marmee says to Jo, when Jo yearns to feel more at peace with the 19th century expectations for women. When she expresses her frustration with "not fitting in."

Jo just wishes she could be the kind of person who would be satisfied with domestic obscurity. But she isn't. She wants more. And Marmee encourages her to honor her desire for a more expansive life, with this remarkable statement:

"you have so many
extraordinary gifts,
how can you expect to live
an ordinary life…" 

I have been thinking about it all day. Isn't this what every mother thinks about her daughters -- and sons. She sees each of them as having such extraordinary gifts. And isn't this what our divine Mother feels about each of us. That we are remarkable, amazing -- extraordinary. For Her children, there is no ordinariness to be lived -- not in Her household. Every child is wise, beautiful, talented, and called to a holy purpose.

I don't believe -- for an instant -- that God sorts us into children of great promise or children of mediocrity. I can't imagine any mother, saying about her yet-to-be-born infant, "hmmm, I wonder if this one is going to be great, or just so-so?" Every mother thinks that her child, is a child of promise. We learn how to mother, not from humanly perfect or fallible parents, but from our divine Mentor. She teaches our hearts to see what she sees.

We can all learn to see every child of God through Marmee's eyes.


offered with Love,

Kate