Monday, September 12, 2011

Miriam the Dominican.

Four little girls in pink and white, seated on the hardwood floor at the feet of their ballet teacher, listening with rapt attention to Angelina in the Palace.

"... and Angelina said, 'I won't make a mistake! I will be perfect!'" reads the lovely lady. "But, girls! No one is perfect, isn't that right?"

Noooo, three little heads shake.

Noooo, all the watching parents shake their heads.

Noooo, the ballet teacher approvingly shakes her head.

"That's not true!" says one little girl named Miriam, offended.

Everyone looks at her, the tallest girl dressed all in white.

"Well, I wonder..." begins the teacher.

"Jesus never makes mistakes. He is perfect." Miriam's eyes are anxious, but firm. Her cheeks and neck are flushed. I wince. I've been right there in her seat.

"Well, I wonder," says the teacher, "I really wonder..." She continues the story and it all brushes past.

Miriam sits stolidly in her rightness and in the immutable rightness of God. I am in the corner of the room, hugging my toddler, throwing graham crackers to placate the baby, and wondering... "I wonder.... I wonder." I wonder at the perfect Word made flesh. I wonder at the spine of steel in my little girl, and I wonder how it will all be for her.

4 comments:

Melanie Bettinelli said...

Go Miriam! Oh it is hard to feel alone in your rightness. I hope it doesn't deter her from speaking out the next time.

Katherine said...

oh God Bless her. "Out of the mouths of babes..."

e said...

I've got it! You write and your mom illustrate a girl's ballerina series that focuses on a girl's love for dance that forms her body and soul, for through dance she can glorify God and express those ineffable longings in her heart.
I would buy them up! ;)

Tami said...

Miriam can come dance with me at my Princess Academy : )

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Princess-Academy-Studio-of-Dance/179920895409129