a note to my daughter
To My Snickerdoodle, Una La Nadia, My Sweet, Sweet Girl,
Do not miss this: though I’m washing dishes, cooking dinner, folding the laundry, making the bed, scrubbing the toilet, putting up the groceries, washing the dogs, waiting for you in the school parking lot, I am living an epic story. We all are. Some of us just don’t know it.
Take today, for example, this ordinary day where we’re doing what we always do. The same ole same ole. But is it? Or, is it a beautiful paragraph from a page in the greatest story being written in heaven or on earth? I promise you that indeed, that’s exactly what each day, each hour, each minute is—a sentence written into eternity.
The angels are on pins and needles watching to see what will we do next. We are cliffhangers. I’m not kidding.
My girl, did you not know that you and I almost weren’t? We come from a long line of warriors who didn’t make it. Those warriors battled long and hard, war after war. But though they may have been physically battered and bloodied and left for dead, oh my goodness, spiritually they wielded swords that pierced many a dragon straight through the heart and saved us. And so, here we are. You and me.
Don’t miss this: These simple days were hard won. I’ve had my own dragons to slay, my own road to travel full of perils. Now, I’m watching you take up your sword and step into this story. Just like all good stories, yours too begins with a journey.
I would wish you the safest travels, my sweet girl, but the safest travel is never the one that gets you there—really, truly, fully there. I hope you go through valleys and deserts. I hope you nearly fall off cliffs. I hope you take shelter in a dark cave. I hope you nearly drown. I long for you to face a dragon. Only then will you know what it’s really like to stand on the peak of the mountaintop, or what gushing water tastes like when you find it in the middle of the desert. I want you to know what it feels like to be dangling 100 feet above the crashing waves, and then from out of nowhere be pulled to solid ground. I want you to know the exact color of daylight when you finally come out of a long, sleepless night at the back of the darkest cave. May the tip of your sword touch a dragon’s heart and pierce it clean through.
“In the future, your children will ask, “What do these rocks mean?” Tell them, “Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry land.” Joshua 4:21. Sweet girl, these stories are our rocks embedded in our Jordan. When you cross on dry land, be sure to look back. These rocks will help you keep your footing. These stories will point you in the direction that you should go. Stay fully armored. Remember, angels and saints are watching. A hero’s welcome is being prepared for us on the other side.
Travel Bravely,
Mommie.
