Covenant News
Hilmar Student Wins First Place in Guideposts Contest
HILMAR, CA (July 8, 2004) - Rae Lynn Smith of Hillmar Covenant Church won first place in the Young Writers Contest sponsored by Guideposts magazine. Her essay "The Other Side of Rejection," which appears in the June issue of Guideposts, beat out more than 10,000 entries in the largest student-writing competition in the US.
In describing Smith's beautiful but haunting essay (found online at
www.guideposts.com/youngwriters03.asp
"That hot, sticky day in July started like any other summer day," she
wrote, "but as it wore on my mother grew more and more angry and
agitated. The reasons came out in a jumble of strange, conflicting
accusations she and her new boyfriend hurled at me. They said I stole
from them and that I was trying to break them up. Then they said I was
planning to do something evil.''
After being sent to her room, Smith describes falling asleep, only
awaken to the sight of her mother standing over her, "scissors in one
hand and jagged hunks of my long hair in the other."
"I hoped it was a nightmare," Smith wrote, "The next morning one glance
in the mirror told me my nightmare was real. I had a few long wisps of
hair among uneven stubble. Mom finally woke up. She took one look at me
and made a phone call. She asked Child Protection Services to take me
away. She told the agency that she was afraid she would hurt me. Her
lips pressed tightly together, she packed a small duffel bag with
clothes and a toothbrush. We waited in the living room in silence. I
remember thinking, Where did my mother go? Who is this?"
She was placed first in the care of Mrs. Lawrence, who took Smith into
her care. She and her church "wrapped their loving arms around me,"
Smith writes. Then she came to live with her aunt and uncle, Wendy and
Keith Lawton, whom she calls her "Mom and Dad." With the help of the
Lawtons and their church, she put her life back together again. She's
also been able to heal the relationship with her birth mother. This past
June, her birth mother was there when Smith graduated from high school.
"We have a good relationship," Smith said, "I still love my mom, even if
all those things happened--I tried really hard to (show) that she wasn't
the bad guy."
Smith plans to attend the Art Institute of California in San Francisco
this fall, where she'll put the $10,000 scholarship she received from
Guideposts to good use.
Writing runs in Smith's family. Wendy Lawton, or "Mom," is the author of
eight books, and gave her some advice along the way. "She is basically
my editor," Smith said. "If she likes it, she tells me how to make it
better-if she doesn't, it gets thrown out."
After submitting her entry last fall, Smith "forgot about it," until
getting the call from Guideposts. Now she says, she feels "a
little bit" like a celebrity.
"Everybody jokes and makes me sign it," she said, a little embarrassed
at it all.
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