A Presidential Campaign Loss

The hardest thing for me as a mother is knowing that the world will disappoint my child and there is not one thing I can do to stop it.  I consider myself to be a decently well rounded person (read: girl) who is rarely, outwardly affected by situations.  Contrary to what The Banker may tell you I am usually meticulous in my thought process and take my time before reacting to a situation. Until it comes to The Ladies.  Their hurts pierce my heart with such depth that I find it impossible to breathe.  In the moments where there are no words to bring comfort and all I can do I stand tall and physically hold her up I find out how devastating motherhood can be.  I pray a million prayers, silently over her, and hope that she never has to feel the pain she is feeling in this moment ever again.  All the while knowing that she will eventually be hurt by this world again. 

Today Carlie Bug stood before her student body and delivered her STUCO presidential speech.  Let’s just stop right there.  This child, all of 10, stood before 400 classmates and teachers and delivered a speech.  I know grown people who won’t do that.  For this I must applaud her.  She believed with all of her heart that she had prepared a speech that summed up her campaign.  She absolutely wants to make a difference in the lives of the teachers at her school.  When the ballots were counted she came up short.  She did not win the Student Council President spot.  Cue a broken hearted little girl. 

There is much to be learned from this day.  First of all, the outcome does not reflect the effort.  My girl put her heart and soul into this race and to some is may just be a 5^th grade student council race but to her it was everything she stands for.  She prayed blessing over herself and her friends while they ran.  Not to be selfish but that’s just who she is. Jesus, JFK and Momma.  That’s how she rolls.  If she desires something and she feels as though God has led her to that point she will ask for specific blessings.  Once we get passed the tears we will reflect on her drive and determination during this race.  It is admirable.  Secondly, failure in the eyes of man can often times be disguised as a blessing from Him.  With 100% certainty I can tell you I am not ready to preach the “blessings in disguise” sermon to my girl but having lived 35ish years I’ve learned a thing or two about unanswered prayers.  I know that this day is a building block, a stepping stone for her and we will be able to use the defeat as a tool … someday.  Lastly, we will continue to fine tune our grace toward others.  The wee person who won is a friend to Carlie.  There are NO hard feelings toward this wee person but overcoming disappointment and extending a congratulatory handshake, when you’re 10, is tough.  It is very hard to separate feelings at this age so we will start working on this tomorrow. 

Tonight we will just put on our best sleeping shirt, shed a few more tears and cry ourselves to sleep.