Attack Of The Louse

Attack of the Louse

God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

My toddler had just emerged from the bath, squeaky clean and chattering happily as I grabbed the comb, ready to give their little head a quick brush. Noticing movement, I squinted my eyes, wondering if I had just seen a strange little bug dart through thick blondish locks.

Um . . . my sleep-deprived brain worked overtime to categorize what I had just seen. Not a wood tick. Not a mosquito. Was that—my entire body froze in sudden horror at the thought—lice?

I sent an overwhelmed, freaking-out text to Terri—mother of five, therapist extraordinaire, hairstylist, and dear friend. She is a woman of wisdom who is rarely ruffled and has received any number of freaked-out texts from me over the years because she is just a step or two ahead of me in the parenting journey.

Within thirty minutes, she was standing on my doorstep, and her calm, almost nonchalant demeanor immediately began to calm my storm of swirling emotions. Her confirmation that my beloved toddler had lice was said with the same even-keeled emotional intensity she might have used if we were discussing where to meet for lunch or coffee. Her matter-of-fact tone soothed my frayed nerves in a situation that felt overwhelming and slightly shameful.

Terri’s gentle, practical approach in my moment of parental panic is one I have tried to emulate for the newish moms (and women in general) in my own circles. She actively seeks to dispel fear, speaking truth and love over the situation. Where another mom might be tempted to showcase her parenting competence during another’s obvious struggle, Terri instead uses her wisdom and experience to gently come alongside with encouragement and discernment, approaching the challenge with a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. In a culture filled with anxiety and self-doubt, it is easy to adopt a spirit of fear, and we desperately need women who stand alongside us in God’s truth.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Seek to intentionally dispel the anxieties you sense in women around you in the workplace, in motherhood, and in your community by speaking words of power, love, and self-control instead.