A Prayer for my Daughter, on Her Birthday

Dear sweet girl, you’re two today. Remnants of baby still cling to your frame, but you’re growing tall and your limbs stretch longer. How quickly these days pass! If only I could freeze this curious, energetic, passionate season with you.

Yet you change a little each day, growing, stretching, embracing, releasing; the days pass, and the years accumulate with startling speed. And so today, on the occasion of your birthday, there are a few thing I want you to know.

I want you to know that I pray for you with a fervency, a hope, and a heartache. It is the delicate balance of a tension that only a mother knows: that heart-full space in between grounding and giving wings.

Above all else, I pray you know that you are loved with a love that surpasses depth or height, a love that confounds knowledge or understanding. I pray dear girl, that your heart hears that truth and let’s it sink into your innermost core where it may root and flourish. For nothing else can replace the beautiful assurance that comes with knowing you are loved. You are loved by the God who knew you even be for He knit you together in my womb, and that same God sent His son to stretch his arms wide on a cross for you. He loves you! He loves you! He loves you! There are no sweeter words.

And I pray you know how much your dad and I, your brother and sister love you. We treasure and adore you, sweet girl! You have brought such light and life, love and laughter to our family! I pray you find your foundation within this family; I pray we are your safe place, always the home to which you can return. And yet I hope you have a God-given hunger to engage the world in a way that light engages the darkness.

I pray you choose mercy, pour out compassion, seek honesty, uphold integrity. I pray you live with passion and never forget the miraculous privilege of your calling … that you are a daughter of the king most high, and He calls you His beloved. There are rights and responsibilities associated with that calling, my dear. They are yours; live them out.

I pray you know that you are beautiful, not just because of your form or your frame but because of the light within. The Lord has created you, and He calls you the apple of his eye! He is enthralled with you, dear girl!

The world will tell you that your worth is wrapped up in your body, your beauty, or your brains, but you are worthy, not because of who you are but because of to whom you belong. You are HIS! And He has plans to give you a hope and a future that are beyond anything this world could ever offer you. When the voices of the world echo loud, when lies and half-truths threaten to steal your joy, remember this truth.

I pray you have dreams or desires that can’t be contained by logic or reason. I pray you aren’t afraid to fail, and when you make mistakes (as you certainly will) I pray you find grace and forgiveness in the process. If you shoot for the moon and land, not among the stars, but face first on the solid ground, it will hurt. The fall always hurts. When that happens, cry. Cry for the pain and the loss of it, but then reach out to find the everlasting arms outstretched and waiting to lift you up. 

I pray you never lose your sense of wonder, never cease to see the beauty unfolding around you. I pray the mountains steal your breath and the ocean fills your soul with the tangible awareness of God’s incredible goodness and His constant nearness. I pray you lose your toes in the sand and your voice upon the wind.

I pray you are undone by the incredible miracle of life itself. When you look at the wrinkled skin of a fresh-from-the-womb baby or gaze into the deeply lined faces of those who have lived so many years, I pray you are astounded by the gift of life and ever grateful to the giver.

So many pages lie before you unwritten, so many blank spaces and empty days yet to fill. They will come in a flash and a flurry, breathtaking and beautiful. For life is a gift, and you my dear, are the sweetest gift.

Never doubt it, darling. You are beautiful, you are treasured, you are loved!

Happy birthday, little one! We love you!

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Like what you see here? Then you’ll love my first-ever children’s book, Bruce the Brave. Now available on Amazon! 

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