She approached the meat counter (yes, I worked in the meat department), and my heart leapt within me. I timidly asked, "Excuse me, but are you Lisa Bevere?" She smiled at me warmly, and I was able to tell her how she had changed my perspective and my faith walk. I'm not sure if I was entirely articulate and coherent, but she was friendly and kind, and I appreciated her patience.
Fight Like A Girl awakened in me a desire to embrace my femininity in a way I had never considered. I learned that God created men and women to be different, and those differences should be celebrated rather than despised. Society tells us that we have to act like men in order to be successful, but the whole world is groaning in anticipation for the day when we become what God created us to be. It is a lesson I have never forgotten.
Nurture, Lisa's most recent book, caused me to long for motherhood almost painfully. Thankfully, God revealed to me that I don't have to bear children biologically in order to be a nurturer. I can choose to create an environment of nurture around me now while I am single and in the future when I have a family of my own.
While reading this incredible book, I was able to see a new movie called "Letters to Juliet". As you know, I am a sucker for chick flicks, so I was very excited to see it. I went to see it three times while it was still in theaters... maybe I was a tad bit obsessive, but it was one scene in the movie that kept me coming back.
The movie is about a girl vacationing in Verona, Italy with her fiance. As her fiance abandons her over and over, choosing to engage in business rather than their relationship, she explores the rich city in which she finds herself. She visits the famed house of Juliet, the heroine of Shakespeare's tragedy, where lovers from all around the world leave messages for Juliet. At the end of the day, the messages are taken down and read by a group called Juliet's Secretaries. This extraordinary collection of women read and answer the messages; giving comfort to the heartbroken, encouragement to the hopeful, and advice to the seekers.
While becoming acquainted with Juliet's Secretaries, the main character Sophie finds a fifty-year-old letter from a woman who did not have the courage to disobey her parents and elope with the love of her life. Sophie writes to the woman, Claire, and becomes entrenched in a beautiful love story. They travel about the countryside together, searching for the man Claire lost so long ago.
After one disappointing day, Claire's grandson berates Sophie, telling her that she doesn't know anything about real loss. Sophie doesn't respond to him, but the audience knows that Sophie's mother left her when she was very young. Claire knows it too, and she goes to comfort Sophie later that evening.
Claire enters Sophie's hotel room and doesn't say much. She comes behind Sophie and takes a hairbrush into her wrinkled hands. "One of the great joys in life is having one's hair brushed," she tells Sophie. No more words are exchanged during the scene. It is quiet and gentle... and I sat there watching it with tears streaming down my cheeks.
It was a sweet and simple moment in the movie and probably not very consequential to most of the movie-goers, but it was the scene that kept me coming back for more. It so clearly demonstrated the concept of nurturing: Claire was a nurturer to that motherless girl, and it was intensely beautiful.
I love how God puts things together. I read a book about the power of being a nurturer, and a clear example is put in front of me - by Hollywood no less! Although I don't have children or a husband, I can be a nurturer to the people God has placed in my path.
