The “Legend of the Bluebonnet,” by Tomie DePaola, is a tale which focuses on a young Comanche girl. She is named She-Who-Is-Alone because she was orphaned by a famine in infancy. The book has many parallels to the struggle women face in their marriages: Do I do the best thing for my marriage relationship, or what I would prefer personally? In the story, the famine has continued to the time when the young girl is 7-10 years old. The only personal belonging she has is a remnant of the family she never knew-- a warrior doll, which her mother made for her. Her father contributed blue jay feathers to adorn the warrior doll. The shaman of the tribe learns from the Great Spirits that the people have become too selfish and in order for the famine and drought to cease, "We must make a burnt offering of the most valued possession among us." Everyone in the village is confident that their most valued possession is surely not what the Great Spirits desire... and She-Who-Is-Alone knows instantly that it is her precious doll. In the dark of that night, she creeps out to the top of the hill to sacrifice her "...warrior doll. "It is the only thing I have from my family who died in this famine. It is my most valued possession. Please accept it"... She thought of ... her mother and father and all the People-- their suffering, their hunger. And before she could change her mind, she thrust the doll into the fire." She-Who-Is-Alone falls asleep on the hilltop, surely from heartbreak and uncertainty, and then awakens to the sight of flowers, "as blue and the feathers in the hair of the doll." And how did it end? She-Who-Is-Alone became "known by another name-- One-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People."
Sometimes women feel like they have lost who they are… were… in the years of being married and becoming a mother. When they feel like “She-Who-Is-Alone” against the tide of the world, or in their marriage, the last thing women want to do is give up the pieces of themselves that are left from 'me before.' Yet the Bible clearly tells us, as we can see in this children's book, that when we give up, when we sacrifice, we become “One-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People.”
Do you see Christ in that title? Do you see God? "He so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17
I remember the first sacrifice I gave to God. It's so silly. Of course, I had given things up before, but this was one of the first times that GOD SPOKE to me, and I actually sacrificed what I wanted for him. Ok, here it is. As I leaned over to pick up two of James' dirty, balled-up, long, black Air Force socks I was absolutely consumed with anger at him. I remember thinking "Five inches! What is the big deal?! Is it soo hard to simply move them five inches to the left?!" (five inches to the left was the dirty clothes hamper) And right on top of that last exasperated, angry 'left?' was God's voice saying simply, 'if it’s so easy, why don't you move them five inches to the left?' Gulp. And after that it was suddenly a lot easier for me to just do many of the cleaning up after James that, before, had angered me. What was the big deal? Really, it was that I was a proud woman who, although I had the entire day to move some socks around, or hang up a jacket, or whatever, I thought I was too good to pick up after a man who worked a 12-hour shift. Why on earth was I staying home, if not to be his helper?
No crucial part of my personality perished when I came to this realization and began to act accordingly. My point is, we should be mirroring Christ to a lost world. Christ sacrificed for us- to the point of death (Eph. 2:8). We are instructed to be a "living sacrifice"(Rom.12:1), which I take to mean this: Continue to live our lives, but sacrifice that which is not Christ-like. The things we shed for His sake are our living sacrifices. This reflects Christ not only to our spouses and children and extended family members, but to the neighbors, friends and strangers in our lives.
Matthew Henry commentary on Romans 12:1,2 says this: "Let us render ourselves; all we are, all we have, all we can do... The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the carrying on this renewing work, till it is perfected in glory... The work of the Holy Ghost first begins in the understanding, and is carried onto the will, affectations, and conversation, till there is a change of the whole man into the likeness of God. Thus, to be godly, is to give up ourselves to God."
Although “The Legend of the Bluebonnet” says the girl has loved her people, I am hoping to be known as “She-Who-Loved-Her God.”
Sometimes women feel like they have lost who they are… were… in the years of being married and becoming a mother. When they feel like “She-Who-Is-Alone” against the tide of the world, or in their marriage, the last thing women want to do is give up the pieces of themselves that are left from 'me before.' Yet the Bible clearly tells us, as we can see in this children's book, that when we give up, when we sacrifice, we become “One-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People.”
Do you see Christ in that title? Do you see God? "He so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17
I remember the first sacrifice I gave to God. It's so silly. Of course, I had given things up before, but this was one of the first times that GOD SPOKE to me, and I actually sacrificed what I wanted for him. Ok, here it is. As I leaned over to pick up two of James' dirty, balled-up, long, black Air Force socks I was absolutely consumed with anger at him. I remember thinking "Five inches! What is the big deal?! Is it soo hard to simply move them five inches to the left?!" (five inches to the left was the dirty clothes hamper) And right on top of that last exasperated, angry 'left?' was God's voice saying simply, 'if it’s so easy, why don't you move them five inches to the left?' Gulp. And after that it was suddenly a lot easier for me to just do many of the cleaning up after James that, before, had angered me. What was the big deal? Really, it was that I was a proud woman who, although I had the entire day to move some socks around, or hang up a jacket, or whatever, I thought I was too good to pick up after a man who worked a 12-hour shift. Why on earth was I staying home, if not to be his helper?
No crucial part of my personality perished when I came to this realization and began to act accordingly. My point is, we should be mirroring Christ to a lost world. Christ sacrificed for us- to the point of death (Eph. 2:8). We are instructed to be a "living sacrifice"(Rom.12:1), which I take to mean this: Continue to live our lives, but sacrifice that which is not Christ-like. The things we shed for His sake are our living sacrifices. This reflects Christ not only to our spouses and children and extended family members, but to the neighbors, friends and strangers in our lives.
Matthew Henry commentary on Romans 12:1,2 says this: "Let us render ourselves; all we are, all we have, all we can do... The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the carrying on this renewing work, till it is perfected in glory... The work of the Holy Ghost first begins in the understanding, and is carried onto the will, affectations, and conversation, till there is a change of the whole man into the likeness of God. Thus, to be godly, is to give up ourselves to God."
Although “The Legend of the Bluebonnet” says the girl has loved her people, I am hoping to be known as “She-Who-Loved-Her God.”
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