Just Like Mama

One of Elisabeth's friends who lives in Amish country gave us Just Like Mama to help her understand a little bit about Amish life and culture. It was a fantastic gift from a country kid to a city kid.

The book gives a glimpse into the daily life of the Amish, and a view of the heart from which that life flows. The book is well illustrated and well written to draw readers into a little girl's desire to be like her Mama.

The book also provoked me to think about how good literature leads us to question, and to think. Just Like Mama closes with the mother telling her daughter,

"I have a wonderful-good idea, dear one. Let's be more like the Lord Jesus . . . together."

The question ran through my mind, "How does this lead a reader to the gospel?" I'm not trying to criticize this author in particular, but to get a better sense in my own understanding of how good literature points us, even subtly, to the gospel.

I think that this author tries to show the good fruit that Mama bears: her patience, gentleness, kindness - everything that makes her daughter want to be "just like Mama." And at the end, she points her girl in the right direction: to Jesus. But I wonder if some readers might see becoming a certain sort of person - even like Jesus - as the heart of Christianity, and of the good news. I wonder if readers like that might be drawn to imitate Jesus without knowing Him, or being reconciled to God through Him.

What Just Like Mama helped me to see is that I can't filter for perfect literature. But with good literature (and bad) it is my responsibility to ask the right questions to help Elisabeth see that the center of the good news is God reconciling rebels to Himself through His Son.