You know what I like most about this letter from my daughter, who by the way, is in pre-K? Here it is: It’s all her! This is how she felt. This is how she spells. This is how her words look when put to paper at this stage in her life. She is not held back by the fact that she has yet to master conventional spelling. Phonetic spelling will do!
Her goal was to communicate a message to her “mome” and that is exactly what she did. And I got the message. I understood it. I walked away from this letter, knowing that my daughter had two “powms” to share, that she loves me, and that she knows I love her too.
It’s interesting how often we let the fact that we don’t “have it all together” paralyze us. Silence us. Blind us. Deafen us. What if we modeled this particular characteristic of a pre-K kid and decided to work with what we do have, what we do know, what we can do, and get our message out anyhow?
Yes, I expect my child to continue to advance in her mastery of the English language; reading, spelling, and writing. But I don’t have to wait until that day comes to celebrate her, hear her, and understand her. Likewise, we don’t have to wait until we meet the standards of those around us or those standards floating in our perfection-obsessed heads to be celebrated, heard, and understood. Our Heavenly Father is able to do that now. He wants to meet us and use us right where we are. Crooked letters and all! He likes you. He’s in awe of you. He is not trying to make up His mind as to whether or not He loves you. He simply does.
Whatever passion Christ has placed inside of you, pursue it. Whatever message He has given you to share, share it. That goal you want to reach, plan for it. If it’s related to your career, relationships, physical or mental health, or spiritual growth, stop thinking about all the hurdles you need to overcome first before you actively go after progressing in these areas. Pick up your pencil, grab a sheet of paper, and just “write.” Spell the best you can. Stay in the lines as best you can. Space the words out as best you can. If you run out of space on one line, curve that word around and hit up those margins! Bottom line: do the best YOU can.
This letter encourages me to be me. When I do that, I am understood. I am heard. I am celebrated. By whom? The One I’m created to please. You see, we just have to keep in mind to whom we’re writing. If someone else doesn’t “get it,” that’s fine. We were not writing to them or for them anyway. Our goal in this life is to communicate a message to our Heavenly Father.
Our focus should be on our heart’s posture toward God, not on being perfect before man. Yes, grow. Yes, progress. Yes, expand your knowledge. But, most importantly, don’t ever be ashamed to be who you are right where you are! Let Him work out the kinks. So why be silent until I’m capable of sharing “two poems.” Why not share “TO POWMS” in the meantime? He’ll understand it!
Yet another remarkable piece. Thank you for this! My daily battle is inadequacy and I have to often remind myself of Galatians 1:10. My goal in everything should be to please God, seek His face, and hear His “well done” instead of people’s “good job”. What a struggle. . .
Thanks Phylicia 🙂
Well said. You took something as innocent as your daughter ‘s masterpiece and broke it down to us grown folks that think we’ve mastered all the pieces. We are so busy crossing all the t’s and dotting the i’s we miss the message. Out of the mouth of a babe. So innocent, raw and genuine. Maybe we need to take notes from a scholar who is just learning how to master the pencil. I understood everything she was saying. Nothing but genuine Love.
Thank you!