A Father Daughter Blessing
The Greatest Gift
Dad’s let me ask you a question…
What is the greatest gift you can give to your daughter?
I’ll tell you what my daughter wants. If I could give her any gift, she would want me to get her one of these:
A Blue Mini Cooper!
Can we be honest?
Many of us have the ability to lavish all kinds of amazing gifts on our children. We can buy them just about anything they want.
But what if the greatest gift we can give them isn’t something money can buy?
Our daughters are growing up in a world that tells them that they have to look a certain way, or do certain things, or achieve certain things in order to be valued and loved.
And many of us as fathers are busy, we’re working, we’re providing, and so we may not be at home as much as we would like, or as present as we would like.
We love our kids, we do. We love our daughters, we do! And we would do just about anything for them. But what if what they need most isn’t something that we can get, isn’t something that we can do, what if it’s something different.
The Gift God Gave
Two different times God said something that I believe gave Jesus everything He needed to accomplish his mission on earth.
It would have been easy for Jesus in His humanity to give up. Life on earth is hard. It’s hot. People are mean. Jesus stepped down from Heaven to Earth and sometimes we forget what a sacrifice that was.
For the first time in eternity He had to deal with aches and pains. For the first time he had to feel hunger and wait on what He wanted. For 33 years He had to deal with some of the hardest to deal with people you’ve ever met.
I can only imagine, but my guess is that His life on earth was not easy.
But Jesus had a Father who gave Him a gift that carried Him and helped Him complete His mission on earth.
First, at His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, there was a voice from Heaven. God the Father spoke these words:
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Matt 3.17; Mark 1.11; Luke 3.22)
And then, almost 3 years later, Jesus went up on a mountain with 3 of his disciples and Jesus experienced what we call the transfiguration. Peter, James, and John saw Jesus meeting with Moses and Elijah and Jesus became as white as light. And when that happened, there was a voice from Heaven again. God the Father said,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35)
At the beginning of His ministry and then near the end of His ministry, God the Father spoke these words over his child.
You are my beloved. In other words… I love you!
In whom I am well pleased. In other words… I’m proud of you!
So dad’s, what I want to suggest tonight is that these two things are the greatest gift you can give your daughter.
In a world that constantly tells her that she has to do this or that to be loved, that she has to look this way or that way to be loved, for you, her dad, her father, to say “I love you,” is the greatest gift.
And then, because your daughter is growing up in a world that constantly tells her that she’s not enough, that she has to achieve this or win that in order to be accepted, appreciated, and valued, for you, her dad, her father, to say, “I’m proud of you,” is the greatest gift.
Recently, I was asked to speak at a Daddy Daughter Banquet. At that banquet, I took a moment to bless my daughter and to encourage all the fathers in the room to do the same. Here’s the blessing I wrote for my youngest daughter and read over her:
A Father Daughter Blessing
Dear Daughter,
You are a gift from God! You will never truly know just how grateful to God I am that He chose me to be your dad. From the day you were born until today it has been my pure joy to watch you learn and grow, laugh and smile, dance and dream, and dare to become the person you are today. I love watching you be you. I love the games we play together. I love snuggle time and tickle time. I delight in every part of being your dad. It is a gift. You are a gift from God.
But I want you to know, as much as I delight in being your father, your Heavenly Father delights in you even more. As much as I love you as your dad, your Heavenly Father loves you even more. And you need to know, just like there is nothing you could ever do that would make me love you less, the same is true of our great God and Father in Heaven. There is nothing you could ever do that would make Him love you less. He loves you. He loves everything about you. He created you! And you bring Him great joy!
If I haven’t told you lately, you are beautiful. You are beautiful inside. Your sweet spirit and kind heart make you the kind of person everyone wants to be around. Your warm smile can light up any room. God has gifted you with a heart for Him and He is actively cultivating the fruit of His Holy Spirit within you to make you more and more like Jesus. Let Him. Stay close to His Word. Stay near to Him in prayer. Remember that He is always near. When you need Him most, just whisper His name. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He will always be there to help you when you call.
You really are beautiful on the inside. And if I haven’t told you lately, you are beautiful on the outside, too! You remind me more and more every day of your mom. And she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met! This world may try to convince you to compare your beauty to others, to think less of yourself for this reason or that reason, but don’t do it. God created you inside and out. And you are beautiful inside and out.
My hope and my deepest desire for you is that you would continue to grow in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man. I want you to know God, love God, and serve God with your life. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Remember that you have me, your mom, your brother, your sister, your grandparents, and so many more people cheering you on at all times!
So…
May the LORD bless you and keep you,
May the Lord smile on you
and be gracious to you;
May the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
I love you! I am proud of you!
Love,
Dad
I Love you. I am Proud of you.
Can I encourage you to say these powerful words to your daughter, “I love you and I am proud of you.
Father’s, let me encourage you to say those words EVERY DAY.
Just imagine what would happen if we did this. I believe our daughters would be able, like Jesus, to go into this world knowing the love and pride of their earhtly fathers and their Heavenly Father. And because of that, they too would be able to accomplish the mission that God has given them to do in this world!
