Our daughter, Annie Elizabeth is one year old. That is 12 months-- which in many ways, is a relatively short time, and yet I marvel at how much has changed. Today is April 17, which means that she is actually 1 year and 5 days old. A year and 5 days worth of bows and pink, and a near constant joy that I have been given a partner-in-crime... another girl in this blessed, loud, testosterone-charged home. My daughter. It is still wonderful to say the words-- my DAUGHTER. God has given me the desire of my heart.
You see, it isn't that I don't adore my little men. Words cannot express the pride, the tender affection, the fierce joy and love I have for my boys. But that is a different entry altogether.
To mother a daughter... well, I truly longed for that. I think it is because I have had for such a long time now, a heart for young women-- to see them fall in love with the Lord-- to believe what He says about who they are, instead of what the world cheaply sells them. I want to teach them what I have learned the hard way, so their road will be smoother than mine. I want to help them embrace their God-given roles with joy and awe... Plus there is the simple fact that I AM a woman. I naturally do princesses and fairies and ballet... I have had to learn to love soccer and t-ball and match-box cars and transformers.
What a responsibility! Motherhood. Parenthood.
Annie is feminine, already--dainty, even. She is sensitive, and happy, and affectionate. She is very, very much a little girl. And this precious daughter that I prayed for will soon be in need of what I now (after my 3rd baby) refer to as "actual parenting." Soon, she will need discipline. She will learn to share, learn her colors, her letters, her animal sounds (those are very important)... and as she does, she will learn the most important thing I can give her. The Word of God. Something she can stand on when sometime in the not-too-distant future, her world falls apart--because it will. I cannot protect her, as much as I wish I could, from this world. Jesus promises us in John 16:33 "In this world, you will have troubles. But take heart, for I have overcome the world." I can bank on the fact that she will suffer. That her tender heart will more than likely at one point or another, be broken. But from now until that happens, I can prepare her to fall into the arms of the One who loves her when she is undone. I will teach her of His goodness. I will teach her of His grace, and His mercy--of His unfailing love. I will tell her the stories of the faith of our fathers, the faith of the mighty women who have gone before us. And I will also cling to the promise that God gives to us in Isaiah 55 that says His word will not come back void, but will accomplish that which He has purposed for it.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. May He give me the grace to mother my daughter well.
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