How To Tell Your Daughter She is Beautiful.

It’s 3:00 a.m. and I hear you, cramming for Spanish’s semester ending.  School.  Work. Friends. It’s been a lot.

Yet, I hear you my child.

I hear the girl talks. The full hearted giggles. The way you teach and help and love your little sister.  All of it.

And I want you to know….

Love is eternal. Every hour. Every minute you have given to our nearly a dozen foster children.  Every spoonful of grace.  Every arm gripped in faith.  Every smile you offer them when you have come home from a long day….

There is a reward.

And school.  I know it’s hard.  College in Highschool.  And how it’s easy to want to compare with your brother, who scored top 1% in the nation’s I.Q. test.

But don’t.

Yes, I know you.

I know the round glasses you put on, though you don’t really need them.  Every curl to your hair and the way you refuse to put hairspray in it, because you want to keep it healthy.

And I know deep things….The hard things….

The kind that only long talks deep into the night reveal.

And I thank you for sharing all of you with me.

No, really…..Thank you for letting me into who you are!  

The beautiful, colorful array of splendor…..YOU are!

Yes, I see you.

How you never thought you were beautiful…until your modeling photo came out and you barely recognized who you were.

And don’t you see, sweetie.  What that photo shows, is what I see….

All day.  Every day.  Whether your curled over with stomach pain, or walk around with over-sized sweats, you are attached to, or whether you have make-up on or not….

I see breathtaking beauty in you.  All day.  Each day.  Everyday.  No matter how you look….on the outside.  

See…

Beauty isn’t a stamp of approval given by others.  It doesn’t stem outward and go inward….

In fact, it’s just the opposite.

Beauty is what you possess and give away as a gift.  It’s a gift from God.  It’s a gift of grace….

Not dependent on how you are dressed or whether you are having a good hair day….or not.

Beauty says, I have The Sun inside me and I am unafraid to let Him shine!

Beauty is knowing who you are.  Your strengths, your weaknesses…all of you.

It is the ability to see others as they are too….Without trying to change them…..

Just loving them.  

Giving grace.  Forgiving. Even when it’s undeserved.

Like Jesus did.  For you.  For me. For our family.  For the world.

And I am proud of all you are.  All you have sacrificed.  All you have become.  Almost seventeen, carefully keeping yourself for “the one”.

And we are praying for him.  Wherever he is.  I know you know that.

But, in the mean time.  Take on this world.  Take on this world with faith.  And passion.  And the compassion that stirs like a fire within you.

Sweetie, but also, sometimes…..(something my Mother never told me)….

Is that it’s also o.k. to rest.  To stop where you are and listen for God.  To be still….and simply soak up His goodness, trusting He is beside you….no matter what.  Regardless of how hard you try. 

Rest in the goodness of a God who died….so you could have communion with Him.

Know that although I see you, know you, hear you, love you…..

He loves you more.

And I have always told you…..

I love you more than the sun, the moon, the stars….and the whole world.  But imagine….God loves you more!

My precious child.  My glowing star coming to earth through those shining eyes. Like a miracle of love.  I am so blessed by you and what you have become.

And I am honored and humbled and thankful that God made you mine….

Not for what you do….

But simply because, of who you are….on the inside.

You are beautiful!

(Linking with Barbie)