Say All the Unspoken Things: A Book of LettersChikamu

DAY 2: Growing and Becoming

My dearest children,

As we get older, we can lose our sense of wonder. Life becomes familiar. I love how you girls see the world. I hope you never grow up or old. Grow young. Stay full of wonder. Wonder is a way of seeing. Wonder is seeing with new vision and an open heart. Wonder is seeing for the first time and in slow fullness. There is a freshness to it. Appreciation. Wonder unveils glory, reveals love, and moves your heart to share with others. Wonder is why people stargaze, watch sunsets, listen to ocean waves. To see and feel and remember. Wonder sees the world, heaven, infinity, and eternity all around us.

Distraction pulls us away from wonder. Many people are sucked into the LED lights of a small digital screen. Nothing else captures their attention. Not other people in the room. Not even seismic moments of wonder happening all around us. We are addicted to distraction, and when we are distracted, we miss everything. To live in wonder is to pause. To live in wonder is to pay attention.

You girls were born in divine imagination, before the beginning of time. Every cell of your bodies bursting with life and energy. Your minds made to see beauty and endless possibilities. Your hearts made for eternal relationship. And your imaginations give you the power to create, dream, make, and write, joining the same creative profession as the One who created you.

There will be hard moments in your lives, moments that require courage. Moments that require you to be fierce and brave. You will need to stand. And sometimes you will need to stand up for others. I hope you rise. Sometimes courage is loud and public. Sometimes it is quiet resolve. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” No great thing has ever been accomplished without courage. Love fuels our courage. Remember, you are never too young to stand up and be brave. And remember: You are not alone. God is with you.

I also pray that you will choose beauty. Beautiful is something you are and something you become. Beauty is alive, shimmering with movement. It creates and replicates, blooming on the surface and in the hearts of everyone it touches. You are beautiful. You are made in the image of the beautiful God. Don’t let the world try to define beauty for you. Beauty is a heart to cultivate and a character to develop.

As you grow and become, cultivate seeds that define the words you speak, the decisions you make, and the patterns you form which ultimately become your character, who you really are. When bad things happen, don’t be afraid of big feelings or tears. It’s okay. But don’t ruminate on negative thoughts. Don’t give shame power over you. Learn from it, pray, let go, and move on. Release and be free. Your lives are open, untouched soil. The seeds you sow now will bloom in your lives. Plant good seeds.

Grow young and become a beautiful landscape,
Dad

Respond

How can you cultivate a sense of wonder as you look for God’s fingerprint in the world around you?

What will it take for you to choose to be brave and see youself as made in the image of the beautiful God who created you?

What seeds will you cultivate that will bloom into the character that God designed you to grow?

Prayer

Thank you Lord for the wonder that you create in me and the glimpse of your glory that it brings. Help me to have the courage to live according to your ways, and the wisdom to cultivate the character that honors you and sets me free to be yours. Amen.