Little Women

Dear readers

Have you ever known someone to have progressed so well in life that it's almost miraculous? Can you compare yourself to 2 years ago, 10 years ago, and say that you have indeed changed for the better?

Recently I enjoyed the 2019 movie Little Women with my mother-in-law while staying in Melbourne. 

If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, I highly recommend it. This post has no spoilers, so even if you haven't I hope you feel the gist of what I talk about.

It is a very moving, emotional, and beautifully made film that goes through the joys, miracles, and sorrows that life brings. Anyone with a family, I think, would feel something during this movie. To hold your dear ones a little closer, to forgive faster, to love dearer. And to allow life's challenges to help you change. One of my church leaders used to always say, a diamond is never a diamond without friction. And I'd like to say, that progression is never going to happen without trials. Particularly, character progression.

I learnt so much in myself by watching the progressing character of Jo March. Anyone with a sibling would know what it is like to quarrel. I remember when my siblings and I would have disagreements we'd start to gang up against each other, it'd last a day or so, and then we'd forget about it. And now as I write this, I cannot remember any of the reasons as to why we did fight as kids. I remember a lot of crying, though, haha, they used to call me cry-baby. Actually, that was rude, why would anyone say that to their little sister or little cousin? Hmph.

Jo March and her younger sister Amy March had a quarrel. Young Amy in her anger and brattiness did something that she knew would hurt Jo. Even as I think about what Amy did, I think about how angry I would have felt in Jo's position. Jo, in her grief, said that what Amy did was unforgivable. How many times in our lives have we felt that people have wronged us unforgivably? Is it an option to forgive, or can there be circumstances when it is just to not forgive? Do we give people a number of chances?

The Saviour taught us about forgiveness. He said that those who do not forgive have the greater sin. 

“Ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.”

When Amy did her best to try to make up with her older sister, whom she admired so much, things turned cold quickly, and Jo refused to forgive or even pay her little sister any attention... Until Amy got hurt. Jo's anger quickly melted and was replaced by fear for her sister's life. She was there for her little sister, kissed her, and the guilt that Jo portrayed felt so close to home. Luckily, Amy wasn't seriously hurt. But she could have been. And Jo felt responsible for what happened.

When Amy was recovering in bed, Marmee, their mother, spoke with Jo. Jo confided in her mother that sometimes Jo's temper can get so hot that she could harm someone and enjoy it while in that passion. Then Marmee, ever so patient and never angry Marmee, confided said she saw herself in Jo, and that she was nearly very angry every day of her life. She taught her patience, temperance, how to bear it. She said that she knows that Jo will deal their vice a lot better than she does. 

And Jo did remarkably progress in controlling her anger. 

And so Jo inspires me. As I watch the progressing character of Jo March, I think of my own character progression.

This is sometimes hard for me to admit and talk about, but I will confess that I struggled tremendously during my first months as a married woman. That's not to say that it's because I was a horrible person two years ago, but let's just say that my husband and I had a lot of weaknesses that neither of us knew about. In my case, I did not even recognise some of these character flaws until I married Lawrence.

The most perfect part, I think, about God's plan, is marriage. Because of all the things I have gone through, it was my husband that was the greatest factor in my character progression. I'm in a relationship triangle with Lawrence and God and the closer Lawrence and I are, the closer I am with God. The closer Lawrence and I am with God, the closer I am with Lawrence. 

Lawrence is my partner in progression. My eternal partner. Because of my husband, I am a much better person than I was before I met him. I can control my vices a lot better than I used to. If you throw at me the same trials that I've gone through two years ago, I am sure I would handle it tremendously better. But, that is not a challenge, I would rather not go through it all again, so don't anybody go giving me a hard time, lol.

I am absolutely proud of how far I've come since then. I look back and my heart pangs on how much I truly struggled, but when I look at myself today, and look for myself in the future, I am so, so, proud of how much I have personally grown.

I love my husband so much. I can go completely off the hook and he'll still love me. Not only will he love me, but he stands by me and does everything in his power to make sure that I know that he loves me, that he forgives me, that he wants what is best for me. He is my miracle maker.

One last thing, Jo had her Marmee. And I'm sure we all have our Marmees in life.

Marmee to me is like the Holy Ghost. He'll whisper to us what God wants to tell us if us listen hard enough, if we talk to Heavenly Father and seek His counsel. He'll give us wisdom, and comfort, and let us know when what we're doing is right. He'll be quiet, maybe quietly angry, haha, when what we're doing is wrong.

The Holy Ghost is the key to our character progression.

Written with Love

Eliza Mckellar.