People have asked me often about my favorite part from my newest book just for kids, God Made You To Be You, and I don’t even have to think twice about my answer. Sammy the cactus has spent a few pages wishing he was like all of his friends in the story. He hopes that he could slither like Snake and fly high like Hawk. He wants to climb cliffs and leap like Bobcat and sleep upside down like Bat. Yet, he succumbs to the fact that he is “sticky stuck … stuck being me.”
It’s the next page that gets me every time. Jackrabbit had been listening to her friend lament all the things he couldn’t do, and she has had enough. She declares to Sammy, “This has to end. These things that you’re thinking, they’re simply not true. Our lives wouldn’t be quite the same without you.”
The following few pages are full of all of Sammy’s friends reminding him of all the amazing things he can do. The things he brings to his community. The way that he helps out his friends.
Isn’t this what we all need – friends like Jackrabbit. Friends that stop us in the middle of the lies we believe about ourselves. Friends that step and say, “this has to end”.
I have chosen to surround myself with friends that will do just that. They will speak the truth over me and to me in my moments of doubt and insecurity. They won’t tell me that everything will be okay and that I’m awesome. No, they will tell me that because of Jesus, everything is okay, and He is awesome through me. They will remind me that God has put me right where he wants me and given me the exact giftings and talents that I need to expand His kingdom.
Jackrabbit is my favorite character because I want children to see a friend who speaks the truth to their friend when they are sad. I want kids to know how a community works towards building each other up!
Basically, I want to be just like Jackrabbit when I grow up!
*We use Amazon affiliate links.
CONNECT WITH JAMIE
BOOKS
Are you ready to finally bloom where you’re planted? To finally free yourself to flourish? Then jump into You Be You, and you’ll find yourself satisfied and succeeding in ways you never expected.Do you feel like you and your spouse are never on the same team? Do you want a flourishing and vibrant marriage, but wonder how in the world to get there? Then dive into Complement and see what happens.
