Peace In The Margins

Are you there God? It’s Me Margaret.

I know you all must think I’m insane to read this again after 30 plus years (probably 40, but who’s counting, really?). Yet, Ms. Blume has let go of her well-known hold on the movie rights to this gem, and soon we’ll see Margaret’s struggle with pre-teen issues and her search for faith on the big screen – so, I thought it would be a good idea to reread a book I remember adoring as a child. And oh, what a difference the years make.

While it was fun to relive the humor of surviving puberty for a sixth-grade girl, what struck me is how even as adults, our conversations with God aren’t much different than Margaret’s. The laundry list of self-centered needs never goes away. What makes Margaret’s situation unique (although probably not as much as there isn’t a stark difference between now and the 1970’s) is the fact that her mother is a Christian and her father is Jewish, and they have decided Margaret doesn’t have a religion and can choose for herself – if she even wants to choose – when she gets older. Her Jewish grandmother is quite zealous in her relationship with Margaret, while her Christian grandparents have never even seen the child. You can imagine the drama from that scenario alone.

As the tale unfolds, Margaret’s conversations with God become increasingly desperate and more self-serving as all she wants is to be like everyone else. Sound familiar? Often times telling God, “Okay, I’m waiting. Just show up and work Your magic!” (My paraphrase.)

“Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret. Life is getting worse every day. I’m going to be the only one who doesn’t get it [her period]. I know it God. Just like I’m the only one without a religion. Why can’t you help me? Haven’t I always done what you wanted? Please…let me be like everybody else” (101).

Yet, when things don’t quite work out, she resorts to bargaining (just like adults), and then gets angry.

“Who needs religion? Who! Not me…I don’t need it. I don’t even need God! …I was never going to talk to God again. What did he want from me anyway? I was through with him and his religions! And I was never going to set foot in the Y or the Jewish Community Center – never” (134).

But of course, things do work out…and Margaret finds her way back to God. The problem with the ending is she still doesn’t really understand who He truly is for her. She’s done what so many of us do – she’s made God what she wants Him to be just for her. Some ethereal being she can mold to fit in the box she’s designed for him. And sadly, we are no different.

God is so much bigger than we give Him credit, yet He considers our little issues with the same vigor and interest as our humongous problems. But we are content with making Him what we want Him to be for us. We only call on Him when we are in the most desperate of needs; we lack the true understanding of who we are in Him and why He even bothered to create us.

So you see, adulthood doesn’t have all the answers, and we are really no different than Margaret, the twelve-year-old pubescent girl — but we should be. I highly recommend this as a read even as adults.

Unsolicited review.

Until next time,

Alicia