Little Flower, Who Had Learning Challenges That No One Ever Knew
For my post today, I have rewritten a post I wrote six years ago. I wrote it after a mama called to talk about her daughter with learning challenges. The girl was in 7th grade, as I recall, and her co-op was about to study something her mama was afraid might be too difficult for her.
As mamas do (and as I love to hear), she chatted on and on about her sweet girl, telling me about how artistic she was and how she loved to cook.
As I was thinking later about this precious creation of our heavenly Father, it occurred to me how different her life would have been if she had been born 400 years ago in a Native American village. After that conversation, I made up a story to illustrate how the life of this worried mama’s daughter might have been different if she had been born in that village.
On a bright October morning, a mama gave birth to her first child, a little girl. As soon as her father saw her, he said, “Thank you, dear wife, for the gift of this little flower.”
As Little Flower grew, she became a loving helper to her mama. When her mama wove baskets and sewed clothes from deerskin, Little Flower watched closely and made miniature versions. When she grew older, she delighted in creating things that were useful and beautiful.
Little Flower also stayed close by when her mama cooked over the fire. In time, she offered suggestions of herbs to add to the pot. She patiently stirred and tended the fire. Slowly Little Flower grew into a young woman and married a man from a nearby village.
Little Flower became a loving wife and a loving mother. Other women in the village looked up to her and sought her advice. Her food was delicious. Her baskets were tight. The clothes she sewed fit well. Her creations were functional, but they were also works of art. Her words were wise.
No woman in the village had more respect than Little Flower and no one ever knew that she couldn’t read or that she knew no math besides the basic math she needed in cooking and in creating the beautiful objects she made.
The difference between your children and Little Flower is that your children live in a world with expectations that do not fit every child. “All men are created equal.” That is true. But they are not all created the same. Neither is one person inferior or superior to another.
One of our jobs as mamas is to sweep the world’s expectations out of our homes and to lock the door behind them, so that inside our homes, children grow up becoming who God made them to be, and not something the world has said they should become.
I will give thanks to You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:14
