You Are Needed!!

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For Christmas, we bought the girls a set of American Girl movies. A friend had told me that although she didn't care for the books, the movies were good movies for girls, and what she found objectionable in the books was not in the movies. So, when I found them at Costco, I got them.

One of the movies is about Molly, a little girl living during WWII. We have watched this several times now, and this movie saddens me! Molly is 10, and because of the war, her world is turned upside down. Her father, a doctor, enlists in the Army so that he can go overseas and take care of wounded soldiers. After he leaves, her mother goes to work in a factory because the women were needed. Her aunt, who originally agreed to come and care for Molly and her siblings, joins the women's air corps because, "she can do so much good". I sit and watch this movie and I ache for Molly! While the overall message of sacrifice is a good and noble one ~ Biblical as well! ~ basically, every adult in Molly's life tells her that her needs are not as important as others. "We all have to make sacrifices." Only too true. But should a 10 year old have to sacrifice her mama for an airplane?

As I watch this movie, I sit and wonder at how many children were left virtual orphans by the war? Daddy was off fighting and Mama was off to the factory. Women bought into the "We need you" line fed to them by the factories, hook, line and sinker. What about the children they left at home? Didn't they need them? Was it worth the sacrifice of their children? How many of those same women never returned home, even after the men were back from the war?

I am not sitting in judgement ~ wartime is a time when sacrifices need to be made. I'm sure many of those women needed to go to work just to keep food on the table. And, it would be arrogant of me to look back and say every one of them was wrong. But watching the story of this fictional little girl, I wonder. I wonder at how many children got the message that they weren't as important as a fighter plane. Or ammunition, or whatever.

So today ~ Wife, Mama, I want to say to you: You are needed! Your beloved needs you. If you have children, they need you. No one can take care of them like you can. No one can meet the needs of your beloved the way you can, no one knows him like you do. No one can love your children like you can, no one has your hugs, your knowledge, your wisdom, no one can give them the care that you can give them.

Are there voices calling for your time and attention? Don't listen to them without carefully evaluating how their call affects those who truely need you, those who truely can't do without you. Don't let those voices drown out the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, or the voices of those entrusted to your care.