This year, I thought about not having a new years resolution. But I read something that I thought was very simple yet encouraging. I had the blessing in receiving a Nook for Christmas from my brother and in choosing a few free downloads/books, I ran across a book I have been meaning to read Little Women. I read 1/3 of it when I was in high school but never finish it. And the little that I did read, I don't remember what it was about. So, I decided to start over again, knowing that it was about 4 sisters growing up in the Civil War times.
To share the excerpt first:
"If I don't seem to need help, it is because I have a better friend, even than father, to comfort and sustain me. My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning and may be many, but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength. Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidingly as you come to your mother."
In this particular chapter, Jo March (also Josephine as some of her family members calls her) had a fight with her youngest sister Amy. Jo didn't want Amy to join her and the oldest sister Meg to watch a play and in return, Amy burnt one of Jo's books. Jo is a tomboy with quite the temper and also has a talent for writing. Jo pretty much exploded as she has worked quite a while on this book for their father (who is away as a chaplain at war) and not forgive her young sister Amy.
The next day, Jo went out to go skating with the neighbor boy Laurie and Amy decided to follow them. In venturing out to the icy lake, Laurie warned Jo about the thin ice in the middle of the lake but Amy didn't hear as she was still far away from them. Amy finally made it to the lake, and as Amy skates out to the middle of the lake, the ice broke underneath her and she fell into the freezing water. Laurie and Jo rescued Amy and got her safely back to the house. Jo felt very bad as the night before her mom told her to "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" (Ephesians 4:26) for what Amy had done to her book.
In this sorrowful state that Jo is in, Jo's mother, Mrs. March, told Jo about her relationship with not only Mr. March but also her relationship with God. In this lesson, Mrs. March taught Jo in how to handle her anger and learn to forgive those who wrong her... and that sometimes patience and humility is the strongest teaching than the strictest lecture. But even in this chapter, it's a continuing lesson to all of us that we can go to God no matter what our challenges are in life.
