𝐌𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬

It's in the innocent way my little one assures me that we can talk to walls because, well, God is in the walls. Or the way my older one takes her Kindle to church not so she can play but so that she can use her Bible app. My older one gets so upset if we miss church and my little one excitedly points at rainbows, "Look! God's love!" 

  

I grew up in the church and have always felt my relationship with God was real. I also always felt like there was a bump I couldn't get over. I knew God loved me and I knew He was amazing... But... 

  

I didn't know what the "but" was but I knew it existed. Then I met my girls. In their openness and their innocence, my faith was renewed. In my need to be the best parent possible to them, my humility found new depths. I have to model Jesus to them so I practice more self-discipline. They model Jesus to me and they don't even have to try - it just comes naturally. 

  

I've seen God's hand in their resilience, their trust, their sweetness. I try to teach them how to grow up to be good, kind, honest human beings. But the truth is, I think the most important part of my job is NOT to teach them how not to be all of those things. They already are so inherently good and it reminds me that we all used to be children, too. I guess what I'm learning from them is how to tear down the walls I've spent the last few decades putting up so that, once again, I can live life through a child's heart.  

  

𝘈𝘯𝘥 [𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴] 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, "𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯." - 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘸 18:3 𝘕𝘐𝘝