Thoughtful Spot

Daddy's Little Girl

He has two.
My Man has two beautiful daughters,
and they both are, and always will be, his little girls.

I see a different side of him with these two,
the one away from home,
he calls every night when he leaves work.

The other, we are a little protective over,
she is small as a bird, and sweet beyond bearing,
he checks on each night.

Yesterday morning, before dawn,
I heard him checking on her.
He prayed with her.
She had a Big Wisdom Teeth Deal in a few hours,
and she was being a brave twenty-year old.
But she is still his little girl.

He called once in the morning to check on her, finding time in his busy day,
and on the way home, at the end of a twelve hour shift, covered in a fine, sooty dust from the factory, he stopped for these.


He walked into the back door where I stood at the stove, holding them in his calloused hands,
and everything good about life was in the gesture.
I sent  him to the garden for a few roses to tuck inside, and slid off the cellophane, dumped the packet of preservative in a vase of water, and trimmed the bouquet.
The roses were between-times for pruning, and so when he returned, he held before him three, plump, blue hydrangea.

Beautiful.

Then I watched as he carried the vase around the corner to the sofa where she lay,
chipmunk-cheeked and groggy from surgery.
And I wondered what it did to a little girl's heart when her daddy brings her flowers.

I believe it protects her.
I believe she feels cherished at her core, and protected from trying to please the wrong kind of man.
I believe she will not settle for a false love that she has to work to maintain.
I believe she will soar. . .

I know because that is what the love of my Heavenly Father has done for me. . .

In a desert land He found me,
    in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded me and cared for me;
    He guarded me as the apple of His eye . . .

~Deuteronomy 32: 10

He longs to be your Father, too, my friend.

 

Counting Grace in Cupcakes and Whales. . .

Counting the Grace Week . . .

#0342 - birthdays stacked one upon another

#0343 - raspberry-chocolate truffle cupcakes - labor of love for the day I was born

#0344 - family week at the beach. . . when fourteen reside where three used to be

#0345 - the glorious chaos, good food, laughter of seven shared meals . . . and the holy silence in the heart when knowledge comes . . . we will do this one day . . . in the Kingdom . . . this has only been preparation

#0346 - my Fisherman and the edge of dawn, twilight fisher friends he makes with a simple cast of lure and bait . . . there is a brotherhood among surf-casters . . . and he is tallest among them

#0347 - a catch of one hundred silver, flippy-flopping, light scattering, scale-dazzling, sea blue fish . . . mullet, whiting, croaker, spot, blues, and an occasional flounder . . . dusted with corn meal and fried by Mama and set on the table to oooh's and ahhh's . . . and my Man is the hero . . . and I think . . . he's the real catch

#0348 - the whale, beached and scored by shark teeth,  long, elegant flukes crossed like arms at rest . . . strange tears to my eyes . . . because he is beautiful, even like this, and hand made by my Father to soar in seas beneath the skies

#0349- when the behemoth ocean gentles late afternoon and laps the shore like a warm, docile lake, and someone says, "Dinner will keep" and all, youngest to oldest, splash into the green

#0350 - for one breath taking minute, chin deep, eyes lifted to swelling green 

and it is known in the heart, if only for a minute, what it would be like

in the realm of whales

land out of sight. . .

and the heart cries, Abba!

and then you know it is He stirring the waters and tossing you to and fro

and laughing high over head.

Even here are healing waters.

And even here God reigns.

And especially here, we know He is not to be tamed. . .

counting with the community at . . .

 

Engaging the Heart - road to a disciplined life

Parents often get sidetracked with behavior.

All behavior is linked to attitudes of the heart.

Therefore, discipline must address attitudes of the heart.

Your concern is to unmask your child's sin, helping him to understand how it reflects a heart that has strayed.

That leads to the cross of Christ.

It underscores the need for a Savior.

It provides opportunities to show the glories of God who sent His son to change hearts and free people enslaved to sin.

You must learn to engage them, not reprove them.

This proposition will inform everything you do as parents.

It will dictate your goals.

It will inform your methods.

~ Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child's Heart

*reprove - to find fault with

*engage - to capture the interest, stimulate thought and introspection