Valentine's

One of the verses I quote often as I speak is Galatians 6:9.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

The meaning of this verse is not hard to comprehend...a long-term, continued effort to do good in our lives is hard but it will not go unnoticed by God nor will it go unrewarded with time. It's very seldom an easy to thing to do "good." As I tell my kids often, if doing good were easy, everyone would do it.

But this verse took a slightly different application as I read it during my quiet time earlier today. It is, after all, Valentine's Day. It is a day set aside to build the coffers of florists, card distributors, chocolate providers and restaurants. But that's a blog for another time.

It's also a day we set aside to do something good that we really should be doing all year long...letting people we love know how much we care.

My mind was drawn to my three daughters. (Now, before you jump to conclusions, I tell my wife numerous times every day how much I love her and my son does not go one day of his life without hearing me tell him I love him as well).

I simply think girls today have a unique challenge. They are brought up in a culture that repeatedly sends this message: anything less than perfect cannot be accepted. As a young female, you are expected to be talented like Taylor Swift, as smart as Condoleezza Rice (you were expecting another female), as beautiful as Catherine Zeta Jones, as athletic as Brandi Chastain...you get the picture.

That's why I believe that one of the "good" things I am expected to do for my daughters is to tell them how perfect they already are. They were created in the image of God, given unique personalities, incredible gifts and wonderful talents. To be anything else besides what they were created to be would be to spit in the face of the Artist who gave them life. I cannot grow weary in doing this because there is a chorus of voices telling them they are too short, too dumb, too goofy or too clumsy.

My words to them? They are too beautiful, too gorgeous, too just right for me to desire them any other way. And, if I don't grow weary in sending that message to them, what I reap in return is an incredibly beautiful, Godly young woman who believes that--with God's help--she can change this world. That's worth every ounce of investment I make in them (and in Lisa and Harrison too).

Here's a word of encouragement today. Let today be the first day of a million that you express your love and support of those God has put into your family. The person you "reap" on the other end will blow you away...and just might change your whole world.