On Your 16th Birthday (AND when you’re 24 and 36 and 42 and 55…)

Today is my oldest daughter’s 16th birthday. It’s so hard for me to believe that this could possibly be so. I have a desire for her that I want to share with you too. May we all never stop pursuing love.

———————————————————————

My dearest Kayla,

It’s hard to believe that 16 years have passed since that last deep breath in and push before you gloriously entered the world. I was hardly ready to mother but thrilled to be yours.

You arrived with a full head of thick brown hair with perfectly frosted tips and the most beautiful full cheeks I had ever seen. I believe that my heart exploded in my chest that first moment that I met you. Loving you was probably the easiest thing that has ever happened to me.

Between then and now I have made more mistakes than I could ever count. There have been lots of apologies and tears and plenty of laugh-out-loud silly moments too. In all your 16 years I can think of only 1 thing that I desire the most for you and I pray that my mothering will help you to learn this.

I’ve written it in your baby book and in letters to you. I’ve shared it in the book you and I pass back and forth sharing bits of ourselves with each other as you grow. I pray it all of the time asking God to answer it for you.

And it is this: That you would know and believe how dearly you are loved by the God who created you.

If you know and believe this then you will love your life, you will fulfill your calling, you will accomplish great things and you will have a profound impact on the world around you.

But don’t miss this because it’s not as easy as it sounds. I know many a 24-year-old and 36, 42, 55 and even 83 year olds who still don’t get it. They don’t give themselves permission to sit with the reality that they are truly, deeply loved. They falter through life trying to still earn everyone’s like and don’t even love themselves.

So here’s the thing – give yourself permission to think about how gloriously you are loved. Smile at the thought of how your dainty freckles make God smile. Or how your sometimes klutzy ways (that you inherited that from me) are endearing. When you create art that ministers a new depth of hope or peace to someone else… celebrate it as your Heavenly Father does and fall a little bit deeper in love with the you that He created you to be.

When you give yourself permission (and time) to know how deeply you are loved, you will learn to love yourself and also to love others. So dive deep, explore the depths and heights and hidden places of God’s love for you. Don’t stop looking for it in all of your years. For you will never stop discovering it.

You are beloved. So be the loved. Live your next 16 years and the 16 after that and the 16 after that knowing that you are loved. And you will have lived a beautiful life.

I am so in love with you and every part of who you are. Happy Sweet 16 and many, many more!

Love, Mom

 flower photo source