The inspiration for this post came from a certain evening with two lovable children. The little girl taught me a lot about how I can better be a lady. Here is what I found:
1. A lady is not anxious.
Drawing pictures, she has not a plan, but goes with whatever idea comes to her.
“I’ll start with a line,” she says, and turns the picture into a heart. From there, she needs no more suggestions. She makes me feel the idea behind Matthew 6, that we need not be anxious about what we’re going to wear, or whether or not our drawing will be received well.
2. A lady is polite.
She compliments my drawing of a tree, and makes suggestions such as adding a sun in the corner. She sees me drawing apples on the tree and mistakes them for acorns, but upon seeing my reaction, she guesses correctly and makes me smile. A lady is edifying.
3. A lady is sweet.
She takes the babysitter’s ponytail out during a “make over,” and says “your hair looks so pretty down like that.” The babysitter came without makeup, with a t-shirt and jeans, with no expectation of a compliment- let alone one from such a lady.
4. A lady knows the ways of her little brother.
One day, we’ll use the word “insightful” or “knowledgeable” to describe this aspect of the little lady. She knows what her brother is actually saying when he mumbles a string of words out, and she knows how to make him stop crying. She knows when he needs her to make a funny face at him, to make him laugh.
5. Indeed, a lady loves to laugh.
She laughs as she runs around the house with her brother, she laughs as she plays “monkey in the middle.” She laughs as her babysitter twirls her around in the air and she laughs at the exhausted babysitter afterwards. Her laughter is never mocking or fake. It bubbles forth from her like a little fountain.
6. A lady sleeps like an angel.
She curls up with her little brother in a big chair, and drifts to sleep in front of the TV. She snores slightly, rustling around every once in a while.
One imagines she is having peaceful, very ladylike dreams.
