Have You Seen This Little Girl?

Fall 1991


Have you seen this little girl? No, she isn’t a run away. She is not a photo on the side of a milk carton, but she is missing. She lives here, occupies space here, does her laundry here and sometimes even eats a meal here, but this little girl is missing.

Where is the innocent little face that used to look up into mine and smile and say, “I love you, mommy.” Where is the little girl that hunted for Easter eggs and waited on the stairs to get her first glimpse of Santa’s visit? Where is the little girl who went happily to Sunday School and couldn’t wait to tell mommy what she’d learned? Where is the little girl who raised her hand to ask Jesus into her heart?

Have you seen this little girl? Now she seems to care less about what mom and dad say, because they are from a different generation or even a different time zone. This little girl, who used to believe in her mommy, now, thinks mom is out to ruin all her fun, her day, and her life. This little girl who used to love to have mommy help her clean her room, now hates mom to touch anything of hers. This little girl who would listen as mommy and daddy told her about strangers and dangers in this world, now seems to enjoy toying with things that bite, go bump in the night and potentially could hurt her.

Where is the little girl I nursed as a baby, the one I walked the floors with many a night when she was sick, the one I comforted through the fears of kindergarten and making new friends, the one I sat with for days on end when she was hospitalized. Where is the little girl I prayed for and taught Bible verses? This little girl is missing. Have you seen her? Where has she gone?

Someone seems to have taken her place, and she is missing. I search for her only to find someone else I don’t recognize. But I will keep on looking, I am almost without hope of ever finding her again, but I will keep on searching. If you see her, tell her I miss her and long to hold her in my arms and kiss her and love her.

Perhaps someday she will come home to me. Perhaps I will never see my little girl again… because she’s a teenager now and I am only her mom.

* copyrighted 1991