A Hundred Dresses
This morning I finished reading the book, The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes with my youngest child. It was a required Literature book for our History curriculum. The book is about a school aged Polish girl named Wanda Petroski, who comes from a very poor family. Wanda constantly endures fellow schoolmates daily ridicule. The laughter and taunting all started because Wanda had made a statement that she had a hundred dresses at home, despite wearing the same old worn out dress everyday. It turns out, Wanda did have a hundred dresses in her closet. They were all beautiful hand-drawn designs that she had created on paper for a drawing contest at her school. In the end, Wanda although poor, wasn’t uneducated but rather very creative and talented. Unfortunately, the other school children didn’t realize this until Wanda and her family was forced to move away because of the constant mockery and shame.
This is the second time we have read this book and each time I cry at the end. Even though this is a fictional story, I can imagine the hurt this little girl felt day in and day out. It is certainly a reflection of what children today face and is a good reminder of the fact the bullying does take place all around us. Each time we read through this book, it allows me as a mom the opportunity to discuss other’s feeling with my children. We are able to talk about how words can and do penetrate deep wounds that can be hard to overcome. We talk about how are actions are a reflection of our relationship with Christ and that the words we speak to others should always reflect that of someone seeking to honor the Lord. We talk about how we can make amends when our words or actions do not honor God.
For myself, I have found it way too easy to become caught up in arguments and disagreements. I admit becoming too emotional or too short sighted in my words to others, especially on social media platforms. Social media is especially hard because words that are typed can be taken the wrong way, even when they weren’t meant to be understood the way someone else may understand them. I’ve had to repent several times on social media outlets because of the way something I said came across.
The Bible gives us great instruction on how our words should look. Here are just a few examples of how God wants us to handle our speech:
The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out. Proverbs 17:14 ESV
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:9
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 ESV
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. James 3:10 ESV
The Hundred Dresses book was a good reminder for me to be careful in how I speak and what I say. These past few months have seen a lot of strife in the Christian community and the way we handle it reflects on our testimony for Christ. The book also was a great opportunity to instill in my children to remember Jesus’s command to his believers:
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39 ESV
Jesus commanded us to LOVE our neighbors. He didn’t tell us to love those like us. He didn’t tell us to love only those with pretty dresses or cars or houses or other material goods. He told us to love our neighbor. Certainly that isn’t always easy and I know I fall short daily. My prayer today is that my family, my children and my husband would begin to reflect a love for our neighbor despite differences that is God honoring and a testimony of our faith and love of Jesus.
What a powerful reminder to be careful what we say and how we say it.
My sister and I were talking about this book just the other day. She said she’d read reviews where people said, “What a terrible story! It’s about bullying and the bullies get away with it, so why would we read this?”
Your devotional shows that they missed the point – they missed the lessons we can learn and can teach others about showing love and kindness to our neighbors, whomever they may be. Beautifully written. Thank you.