Growing Up

Oh, this girl. Can you see it? Can you see her grown up teenage self looking into the same mirror, maybe with a few pictures stuck in the sides? Can you see her getting ready for her first day of high school? Can you see the horrible fashion mistakes she'll make and the phase with too much make-up? Can you see the jewelry scattered across the dresser and the brushes and hair products? I can. I can see it coming way too quickly. I want to savor the princess dress and the chapstick and the bows. I want to tell her over and over again that she's beautiful just the way she is, so that later, in those awkward years she might believe it. I want to play with her hair while she'll still let me. I want her to know she's loved so that those pictures aren't boys that she's trying to get love from. I want her to know in her heart that she has a God who made her exactly as He wanted her to be and to be confident in that person. Oh, this girl.