Daughters

This past weekend my youngest daughter had the privilege of going to the Marine Corps ball with a young Marine who grew up in Waco. She loves to get dressed up and loves all of the pomp and pageantry so I knew that she would love this. As I expected she had a ball (no pun intended) and loved the Virginia countryside as well. One thing that I had been praying for her was that she would feel beautiful when she was all dressed up. She is beautiful so I knew that it would not take much but I wanted her to feel that way. Well she did say that she felt beautiful so I was very happy. That got me to start thinking about daughters and hence my blog.

I love my son very much and would not trade him for anything (see last blog), but I just love daughters and I am very fortunate to have three of them. Being a guy, i wasn't sure how I would be able to handle daughters. I had two brothers and only one sister, but she was somewhat of a tomboy back then (growing up with three older brothers, what would you expect). Now she is really prissy and you would never suspect the other. At any rate I did not have much experience. But God gives grace to those who need it and He was gracious in teaching me how to rear girls.

One of the things which is almost universal among girls is that they want to be told they are beautiful, and growing up the most important person to hear that from is their dad. I'm not sure how well I did that back then but I did learn the importance and have tried to put it in practice. But it has to come from the heart because girls are very perceptive and know when you are lying. My girls are all beautiful physically but even more so are beautiful people, so it is not hard for me to tell them. The other thing daughters need from their father is to demonstrate the Father heart of God. For all of you new fathers, these two things are the most important gifts you can give your girls. Of course not every girl has a father around and many that are grown did not receive that from their father. But God is gracious and He can make up for what is deficient.

Each of my daughters is so unique in their gifts and personalities, and each with a part of me in them which I can really relate to. I especially love spending time with each of them one on one. They are not only fun to be with but they teach me things even in my old age - I am so amazed at their maturity. I know I was not that way at their age. So let me close by praising God for daughters and thanking Him specifically for my three.