The Good Little Girl

Once upon a time there was a tiny wee baby who didn't have a mother. Of course someone gave birth to her, but the lady who had the baby didn't know how to look after her.

The tiny wee baby was given to another lady who became her new mother. Along with a handsome father and older brother, the little girl had a home.

Her mother and father loved her so much they could barely stand it. They told her how wonderful she was and spoilt her with toys, clothes and beautiful things.

As the little girl began to grow, she developed into a bright, mischievous, bundle of energy. She was curious about everything, demanding and full of every imaginable emotion. Her mother was concerned that her little angel wouldn't grow into a lady so mother started to make some rules.

She told the little girl she had to be nice, sweet, good and well behaved because mother wanted it and so did Jesus. If she was good she would make mother happy and go to heaven. If she was bad, mother would be so sad, and so would Jesus.

The little girl tried to be good but she didn't understand the rules. She never wanted to be bad and hurt her mother or Jesus but sometimes she made mistakes. She soon figured out that being too loud, or angry, or asking questions would cause her mother to scold her. She often made her mother so sad that she didn't want to be near the little girl.

As the years went by the little girl kept on making mistakes, and being bad because she couldn't help it. The rules seemed so strict that she finally gave up and ran away. Mother didn't talk to her for a whole year and told her afterwards that the girl's behaviour had made mother sick for that entire year.

Eventually the little girl became a grownup, got married and lived in a different country to her mother. She knew that her mother was still sad because the girl had the wrong husband, the wrong job, didn't own a house, and hadn't had babies. The girl thought it didn't matter.

One day the girl decided it was time she had some rules of her own. She made the rules as strict as possible because otherwise they wouldn't be proper rules. She knew she would be happy if she stuck to the rules because she would be good at last.

Unfortunately, the girl chose rules that would change the way she looked. Her mother heard of this change, and when she actually saw the girl, she expressed her disappointment. Mother made sure she mentioned the way the girl looked every time they talked.

The girl was so confused. When she kept the rules she was being bad, and when she broke them by eating she was also being bad. The girl became depressed and thought she was going mad.

One day the girl sat down to write her story and figured out what was going on. On that day the girl decided she was a good girl no matter what she did, or thought, or felt. She decided that she could eat bad food, she could eat good food, she could eat no food or she could eat too much food and it would never ever make her a bad person. In fact what she ate, how much she trained and her weight had no direct bearing on who she was at all.

Finally the girl understood that she could really choose anything she wanted. She could choose to be lean and bony or soft and round and both were valid choices. She could choose to log her food and obsess over protein, or she could just eat whatever she felt like. She could choose to do something today and something totally different tomorrow. No matter what she chose she was still being good and Jesus still loved her.

Mother would always want the girl to follow the rules so she could get into heaven, but the girl decided she preferred reincarnation and would rather be at peace here and now and just let it all go.

At last the good little girl FELT good.