A Little Princess has always resounded with me. I felt something of a kindred spirit with Sara, even now, though she remains 12 and I have grown to nearly 20. Only one other book of fiction has so affected the way I see the world.
"Things happen to people by accident," she used to say. "A lot of nice accidents have happened to me. It just happened that I always liked lessons and books, and could remember things hen I learned them. It just happened that I was born with a father who was beautiful and nice and clever, and could give me everything I liked. Perhaps I have not really a good temper at all, but if you have everything you want and everyone is kind to you, how can you help but be good-tempered? I don't know" -looking quite serious- "how I shall ever find out whether I am really a nice child or a horrid one. Perhaps I'm a hideous child, and no one will ever know, just because I never have any trials." Sara to Ermengarde.
I don't really know what kind of a person I would be under different life circumstances. I like to imagine I would be the same under different circumstances...but would I really? Would I be horrid had I grown up with no parents? If I were destitute? If I had been mistreated as a child? How would I react if these things happened to me now?
A lot of nice accidents have happened to me. :-D They may be somewhat accidents, but God has a plan to use them for His glory...somehow. I wonder... what can *I* do with the life God has given me? What will I do for Him?
(Read further: Part 2 and Part 3)
I definitely think what we go through...or do not go through for that matter, affects the person we are/become. So in a lot of ways we are products of our environment. Studies show that someone who has parents that have abused alcohol are 10 times more likely to abuse alcohol themselves. Being raised under adverse conditions would not prove either way if you're a horrid child I believe. You would simply adapt to the situation. So no matter what that situation is the person still must choose right or wrong, or at least has the option. And there have been times when you've had to choose right or wrong in your life I'm sure....even if it appears nothing bad has happened to you. They say the rain falls on the just and the unjust...so the fact that you haven't faced many hardships, is that much more to be thankful for... well that's just me putting in my little 2 cents :)
ReplyDelete