Sunday, March 16, 2014

Wonderfully Made

My daughter, Blair, went back to college today.  After having her home for a week, I'm really going to feel her absence!  I stayed home from church with Carson, who is sick with fever, and cooked her a big send off lunch and finished up her laundry.  She brought home all of her wintry apparel and traded them out for shorts and sandals, so our afternoon has been busy!              

After spending the week with Blair, I was reminded of one of the things that I so admire about her.......she's never been afraid to be her own person, even if it means standing out like a flamingo in a flock of geese!  If her favorite song was playing this week while we were out shopping, she'd just start belting it out, right there, for everyone in the store.  I suppose why I appreciate that in her so much is because, when I was young, my middle name was "Obscurity" and blending in was my favorite hobby.      
 
Just to give you a little description of her......to say that Blair is a girly girl, doesn't really do her justice.  No, Blair has achieved femininity in its highest form.  If femininity had levels, she'd be what you'd call a Gold Cardholder, Summa Cum Laude, Five Star General, Black Belt, Her Excellency, Platinum Member, Commander in Chief, Valedictorian, Your Honor, Hall of Famer... if you will.  She loves all manner of embellishments and all that is prissy in nature and all that sparkles and catches the light and every little thing that is frilly and pink and poufy and fanciful.

As a little girl, Blair seemed indifferent to what everyone else was doing and went about her own way.  If all the girls on the playground were under the slide talking, you'd find Blair on the swings, because, well, she so loved to swing!  When all of her 11 year old friends were rolling their eyes at dolls and trading them in for more mature pastimes, Blair was unmoved by their pressure and continued her close relationship with Malibu Barbie and Movie Star Barbie for another couple of years until SHE was ready for the transition.  She's never felt the need to be somewhere she didn't want to be or to change her preferred course just to fit in with the herd. 

As a teenager, she's always taken some good natured ribbing for her consistent desire to err on the side of dressy.  Everyone in the room can be in gym shorts and sneakers and Blair will come in confidently in her cute, little dress and heels with hair and makeup done just because that's how she feels happiest.  No matter what those around her are donning, she wears what makes her......Blair. 

This week, we decided to eat at one of the local Mexican restaurants before heading across the street to get a little exercise on some walking trails.  A woman stopped her as we came into the restaurant and commented, "Your hair is fixed so beautifully!  Are you going to be in a pageant today?"  "No, ma'am", Blair chuckled...."I'm just going to exercise."  It doesn't matter where she's going, she's going to get all dolled up to go there!   

We found that when she got into high school and became more independent, the same headstrong, confident, autonomous spirit that kept her on the swings instead of among the masses as a little girl, may have proved to be the same quality that kept her from some of the temptations that beckon teens.  
  
We should encourage the uniqueness that God has placed in our children.  The characteristics that we find so unique in them may be the very ones that He will use, later in their lives, to help them live out their purpose and keep their heart close to Him.  He knows what each of His children will face in life and has equipped them to face it.  He knows what He wants each of His children to accomplish for Him and He's given them the tools to accomplish it.  As a parent, I don't ever want to try to take things out of the bag that God has packed specifically for my kid's journey of life because of ideas I may have about what they should be like.  God knows more about where Blair and Carson are going and what they'll need when they get there.             

I know that He must have something special for Blair to do that will require her to turn her God-given blind eye to what everyone else is doing.  I have no doubt that He custom made her with an important purpose in mind. 
 
"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
   
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.”  Psalm 139: 13-16, Message


        



10 comments:

  1. What a beautiful tribute to your daughter, Joni, and a beautiful tribute to the God who made her unique! It took me back to the time when my own two daughters were discovering the unique tools God had given each of them; they were both so different from me and it was hard sometimes not to squelch them! Now I see the godly women they have become and I am grateful for those precious days God allowed us to share. They have become my closest friends and bless my life every day. I wish that for you, too.

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  2. Beautiful! Your recent posts are really making me think, in a good way!! Lovin' your blog and writing style!!!

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  3. I just found your blog and what the gracious!!!! Big mama & boo mama are always the first blogs I read and now you will be in my top three!! Yes feel special, feel very special...I'm a super fancy stay at home mom of a one year old princess that has learned to growl(and it ain't cute but she is) and a five year old boy that smells like a combination of wet dog and dirt...basically I'm a nobody...but your blog has made me laugh out loud! I love it! Even if you are a State fan ;) I still love my little brother and he's a sophomore at Mississippi State..we just don't communicate during football season ;) seriously though I can't wait to read your next post.

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    1. Hahaha! Cari, you are precious....you made me laugh out loud! I feel honored to be in your top 3! Go Dawgs! ;)

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  4. I agree, what a beautiful tribute to your daughter!

    My son is so different from how I was at 17. I look at my son now, and while it's tempting to say my parenting is what made him the MAN he is today, I know it was God that made him that way in spite of my parenting!

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  5. I was a frilly, rather prissy girl. But my daughter is more of a free-spirit. You can find her hanging from a tree in our backyard almost any time of day. She loves playing, not with dolls, but nature, animals, and her good old imagination. Though in 6th, her best friends are in 5th and often playing some imaginary game while all the 6th graders are sitting out recess, chatting (gossiping). She told me she chooses not to sit at the "cool" table because those girls are mean. Recently someone asked me why she doesn't hang with girls her own age (a mother of one of the "cool" kids), and I just said she still wants to play. Thanks for reminding me that it's okay for an 11 year old girl to just "play"!

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    1. Good for her!! I'm no parenting expert, but, in my opinion, the longer you can keep them a "kid", the better! I say encourage her to play until her little heart's content :)

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