MY LITTLE GIRL

As many first-time mothers can probably relate to, nothing holds my interest like observing my little girl. Her facial expressions, the excitement in her eyes, her curiosity—just about everything she does brings out the motherly love in me. And one wonderful day I realized that’s how Jesus, in His unconditional love, is looking at me.

As I watched my Ashley Elle sitting up on the bed and gazing at me with her bright blue eyes, all smiles, I thought, How could I not love her? Sure, at six months she is as active as a puppy, she makes messes, she fusses, she wakes up in the night and wants to be fed when I just want to sleep—but no matter what she does, there is no way that I could ever stop loving or caring for her!

Then I remembered the previous day, when I had felt so low and far from God. I had made so many mistakes! Surely He had stopped loving me—or so it seemed. Yet as I looked into my baby’s eyes, He spoke to me. How could I ever stop loving you? Why would I ever want to stop caring for you? You are the joy of My heart. Sure, you aren’t perfect and you sometimes make a mess of things, but that’s all just part of growing up. My love for you is ever constant, never changing. And don’t worry, you will always be My little girl!

If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.—Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)

Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you, and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. Take time with them, teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith. When you are old, nothing else you’ve done will have mattered as much.—Lisa Wingate

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Psalm 127:3 ESV / Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV / Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.