Pretty Little Liars, Redemption, and Reminders

Do you remember those squeemish feelings before the first day of school?  Wondering if your friends were in your classes...wondering who you would sit with at lunch...who you would sit with on the bus?

We did not have social media in 1985 to post a picture of our schedule the night before class so that all our friends could chime in if they had a class with us. Nope. We went in unprepared. Hopeful...but unprepared. The best we could do was to call our best friend the night before to see what she was wearing to school the next day.  We would at that point choose to wear something that was either approved by her or potentially even matching her so we could brave the clique machine in the halls together.

I am reminded of these feelings this morning as my kids head out to start a new semester. New classes, new teachers, new schedule.  Today is the first day of my daughter's last semester of high school and I am once again thanking The Lord for giving me this precious child.

You see...this child of mine is a constant reminder...in just about every situation that life hands her, of how The Lord is a redeeming God, a forgiving God, and a loving God. And as usual, the way the Lord works is always so stinkin' creative, and so obviously Him. I mean who else could orchestrate this?

When I was her age, to put it mildly...I was a bad kid. Yes...I got good grades, played Varsity soccer, got accepted to a good school...but I was a bad kid. I was a bully-a back-stabbing mean girl in the first degree. I turned friend against friend over boy issues. In middle school I pushed girls down the school bus steps and made their knees and palms bleed. In fact I got kicked off several buses and my mom had to drive me half of my 8th grade year. I got paid to walk up a hit a girl at her locker. Speaking of lockers ...my science teacher routinely put me out in the hallway to multiply locker numbers as punishment for my behavior in class. In high school I didn't get in as many fights...but I had honed my mean-girl craft well by that time and was queen of the clique. I got sent home one day for wearing a shirt with a girl's name on it with a circle around it and a line drawn through it. I had also convinced two friends to do the same.  I was part of a group who thought it was a good idea to set off fire crackers the last day of our senior year on campus. Fireworks were illegal in NC. My parents were told I may need a court injunction to graduate. It didnt take long to convince the school they did not want me there another year and somehow, I was the only one who got out of that trouble with no punishment-even though I helped organize it. My girlfriends spent two days dusting the library books in order to graduate. I skipped school regularly. I won't even go in to what I did on weekends.  You get the picture.

Fast forward 20 years. The Lord chose to save me. He let me live long enough to save me. The gracious, loving, and merciful God saved me. And how does this precious daughter of mine fit in to the equation? You see-she is the total opposite, total antithesis of what I was at her age. Not only that, she suffers at the hands of some girls who are quite like I was back then but choose different weapons to inflict their hurtful ways. Cliqu-ee girls. Girls that won't push her down school bus steps...but girls who strive to make themselves look better than everyone else to authority figures-posturing so to speak. Ones that sub-tweet and post sarcastic pictures on Instagram.  Upper middle class teenage girls are a distinct tribe....many times a mean tribe...a hurtful tribe.....a very self-absorbed tribe. Pretty Little Liars is an understatement kinda tribe.

And how does this remind me of how the Lord is a redeeming Lord? I see the grief and the sorrow that these girls bring others. I see it so often in my own daughter. It makes me sick. Occasionally it makes me want to go back to my presalvation days and use some of my goalie punting techniques in a not-so-nice way. But then I see her forgive these folks. Hurt and bruised- but she just moves on with life. Her same sweet self as if nothing ever happened. Time. And. Time. Again.

This broader picture that I see over and over again reminds me of these things....
It reminds me that I was once one of them-a mean girl to the umpteenth degree...meaner than even this generation. If I had social media, I would have used it to my advantage in the Devil's game of chess as well.  I was one of the ones who caused people to hurt..lots of people..and He redeemed me anyway. There is hope for even the meanest sub-tweeting, girl.

It shows me that He loves me. He loves me so much that not only did He die for me...as lagniappe...as extra above and beyond, He gave me this precious daughter who is a life picture of how He forgives and how He loves us. Whereas Hannah is the easiest thing since sliced bread to love, lots of people aren't. But that does not mean that they are not loved by Him. She gets it. I still need reminding. And the Lord was kind enough to give me this beautiful reminder.

Perhaps some of her first lessons in forgiveness were as a result of her little devil pony's shenanigans. She broke bones and cried tears,but always got back on and loved this little guy.   (circa 2005)

 

Could not be more proud of this sweet soul.

(2013)

Romans 8:28

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

So in my grief whenever I see my baby girl get hurt, I get reminded of the goodness and the mercy of My Father in Heaven. Even in these icky moments I see the good of the Lord. I can look back and see the good of the Lord in some of the worst situations I was ever in back in the day. He caused all those things to work together for me to see this purpose and that He may be glorified in it all. Not only is He teaching her not to put her hope in things of this world, He is teaching me what is important at the same time. Pretty stinkin'creative if I may say so myself.