ME Week—Friday
If you need some context as to what “ME week” has been about, click here.
As ME week comes to a close, I thought about the myriad of pictures that I might use to celebrate my daughter, Mary Elizabeth. I ended up picking two photographs that I didn’t take (see bottom of post) because they tell the story best today.
This first shot is of Mary Liz with our dog Maggie. We’ve had Maggie for about 7 years and she’s a wonderful dog—unless you want her to sit in your lap. If you want that to happen, you have be named Mary Elizabeth Cash and look exactly like the girl in the picture. Maggie loves people and will come to anyone who gets her attention. She even whines like crazy when anyone in our family returns after having been gone for more than 24 hours. But Mary Liz is the ONLY person that Maggie will come and sit with for an extended period of time.
Here’s another detail: Maggie is mostly deaf. She doesn’t like a lot of sudden movements or loud noises. I think this is part of the reason that Maggie sits with Mary Liz, because she knows this and is careful to protect Maggie in this regard.
And it strikes me that we all need people in our lives who know our weaknesses and are careful to protect us from what or who might harm us. I need people—like Maggie needs Mary Liz—to help me “hear” what I’ve tuned out, turned off, or just plain gone deaf towards. We all need people to feel safe with—even if safety comes from someone keeping us from doing what we think we want to do. I watch Mary Liz care for and protect Maggie, and I realize that there is a reason Maggie wants to sit close to my daughter.
This second picture was my wife’s brilliant idea. Mary Liz loves books and this photograph tells that story well.
She reads a book faster than I can watch the movie. I even took a speed reading course a few years ago just to catch up with her, but I’m still stuck in 2nd gear. She reads so fast that she just might have finished all of the books in this picture before the photography session was over. She’s already finished reading this post while you are still on this sentence.
I wish I could read as fast as my daughter. She has always, from a very early age, amazed me with her ability to read and comprehend. This ability is accentuated by a wonderful thirst for knowledge that has served—and will serve—her well the rest of her life. This thirst makes me think of two Bible verses. The first is “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalms 119:105). By this standard, my girl has a glow about her.
The other verse I think of is Romans 15:4, “Such things [like Psalm 119] were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a helping of hope and encouragement when I have to wait on something. We all need that sometimes.
Mary Elizabeth has taught me that reading can often be the vehicle in which hope and encouragement travel from the head to the heart and back again.
I’ve watched her model that by reading books. And it’s often been when a certain dog named Maggie is resting in the only lap in the family that she trusts.
Reading. Reverie. Rest. Rise.
Mary Liz, you’ve taught me the value in these things. Thanks. :)
Photos taken by Stephanie Simon Photography. Thanks Stephanie!
