I Have An Idea

I really want to write a book for my daughter! In this book I would include all the lessons I’ve learned through my childhood, adolescence and early adult life.I would probably include advice on being a student, friend, wife and a mother. I’m giving myself a strict deadline…she needs to have it in her hands for her thirteenth birthday.

She’s six months old, so I’m not feeling incredibly pressed for time.

I want to share so many stories with her, in the hopes that she will get to know me, her father, and her family  members better. I’ll start with my favorite childhood memory… the time that I was five and my favorite teddy bear accidentally got thrown down the garbage chute of our apartment building. Knowing how much my teddy meant to me my father brought me down to the superintendent’s apartment and asked to be let into the garbage room so that he could sort through the garbage that had fallen from the chute. There he stood inside the dump, searching for my long lost best friend. She should definitely know this story about her grandfather.

I want to tell her about the dog walking business I ran when I was in elementary school. My mother warned me not to walk the St. Bernard across the street – she knew that dog was trouble just by looking at him. Of course I insisted she didn’t know what she was talking about and that I knew way better. When the dog bit me in the leg and I had to be taken to the hospital, my  mother hugged me tight and affirmed that no, the dog bite did not mean that I was going to die. I think there’s a lot for Amanda to learn from that story.

I’ll also tell her about the five dollar diets that my sister and I would go on regularly (that should be a good indication of how successful they were). Whoever ate junk food owed the other person five dollars for each and every offense. Hopefully this story will be a good segue on the wise use of her money.

And her father. Ohhhh her father. I pray that through my shared stories she will love and respect him as much as I do!

But even more than sharing these stories, I really want to share my heart with her. I need to articulate the Gospel to her in writing, so she can go back to it time and time again and hear my voice pleading with her to give her life to the Lord. I want this book to answer her questions. Questions like: How should I choose my friends? What do I do when I’m disliked? What does it mean to be pure? How do I pursue wisdom? What should I look for in a husband? What is expected of me as a wife? How can I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, strength and mind?

I don’t want this to be her favorite book. I want His Word to be her favorite book. But I hope to capture how her mother sought to apply the words of God to her own life, and in some way, encourage her to know how to do the same.

I also don’t want this book to be mere opinions. She’ll get enough of people’s opinions on a daily basis. No, this book needs to be different. It must be grounded in Biblical truth – every word of advice, every piece of wise counsel,  must spring from the all sufficient word of God. That’s ultimately the purpose of this book – to help her to know the All Sufficient God, through His All Sufficient Word.

Maybe she will read it when we she is too embarrassed to ask me the direct questions herself (though I hope that never happens). Maybe she’ll read it when she is far away in another country and cannot hear my voice directly. Maybe she will read it when she is angry at me, and will remember my heart towards her…perhaps it will explain why I am being so hard with her when all of her friend’s mothers let them do whatever they want.

Can I share something else with you? I hope she will read it long after I am gone…I hope it will remind her of the words I lived to engrain in her mind. I hope it will consistently draw her back to the ultimate Book, written by the ultimate Author and Perfector of our faith.

I’d love your contributions….any ideas for a title? Any suggestions on what else our daughters need to hear from their mothers? We have thirteen years…but I’d really like to get started!