A book that is a little more substantial than "Are You My Mother?"

Meet my friend Lily Owens.

(Yes, that is one of those Fanning girls. No, I haven't seen the movie. I would never do that to myself)

I read "The Secret Life of Bees" when I was 15 years old. And I found a kindred spirit in Lily. When I compare myself with Lily I really don't find too many immediate, obvious connections between us. I didn't grow up in the South during a time of intense racial division. My mother didn't die when I was very young. Her father is a broken and cruel while mine leads my family with love and faith. I don't carry around intense feelings of guilt over possibly being the cause of my mother's death. 

And yet, I feel as if I know this girl's heart through and through. 

Lily has this insatiable desire to find a maternal force in her life. She seeks to fill the void that her mother's death has left. Now see, I have my mother. I love my mother. I just sent my mother a text message telling her that I love her. She is my best friend. In fact, sometimes I think that it really wouldn't be THAT bad if I ended up a crazy cat lady in my mom’s basement. But I digress… 

As the book develops Lily experiences this powerful force, this motherly influence as she makes connections with other woman. She finally begins to feel the tenderness, the strength, and the unconditional love of a mother that she has been longing for. But even more than her connections with other women there is a spiritual maternal entity that she reaches for. She desires to connect to a universal mother.

Now don’t worry. I’m not taking this beyond what can be found in the in the Gospel Principles book. I love true, pure doctrine. 

But I think that is what 15 year old Meghan related with.  The words in Eliza R. Snow’s words in the hymn “O, My Father” would run through her head:

“In the heav'ns are parents single?

No, the thought makes reason stare!

Truth is reason; truth eternal

Tells me I've a mother there.”