We were running early this morning…miracle of miracles! I told my kids to go play for a few minutes while I finished getting ready, but my daughter followed on my heels saying with her four-year-old confidence, “I can help!”. With only makeup left to put on, I laid out my eyeshadows and told her she could pick the two shades I’d wear today. With a determined look, she pointed her tiny finger to one and then to another. So, it’ll be lavender and a pale pink today (because they’re sparkly, of course). “Good job, hon!”
She immediately asked if she could wear some too. “Why do you want to wear some?” “Because I want to be like you!”
Now, I’m not much for make-up caked on sweet baby faces, but I love sharing these little moments with her, using a very light swipe on her eyelid…thrilling for her, but still undetectable to the naked eye. Win-win!
Hair came next…mine is just a ponytail today. Usually her very long curls hang down, but today she wanted a braid…no, wait, “Mom, I want a ponytail so I can be just like you!” Matching ponytails it is.
I love it when she wants to be like me. But it humbles me too, when I think of all the other ways, all the things I’m still growing in…where I don’t “have it down” yet. It’s so sweet to see her look up at me like I have all the answers, trusting me because I’ve just always been here…and it doesn’t hurt that she has my blue eyes and curly hair.
When she looks at me like that, follows on my heels, it makes me want to be so much more like my Father so she’ll be more like Him too! I passed on to her the hair and the eyes…and the love for singing…and the love of God’s beauty. But God passes on to us His Spirit…His love…His joy…His patience and peace…His very self. He doesn’t hold Himself back or get frightened that His children will grow up to look just like Him. That is His heart’s desire.
Lord, let it be mine! Let me look so much like You that I don’t fear that my kids will look like me. Because, in following my example, I pray that they’ll actually be following Yours!