Girls, Girls, Girls!

When I gave my heart to Mr. Wonderful, I also gave my heart to his two teenage daughters...and once again got a front row seat to the intriguing world of teenage girlhood.  While the girls have a mother involved in their lives, I like to think of myself as kind of the "cool aunt" who gets to go prom dress shopping and practice dance moves in the bedroom.  I'm also reminded of the many insecurities that come with being a teen and being a female.  Every week I find myself remembering something I'd previously forgotten about my own teen years.  I'm also aware that my own daughter is zooming toward these days at warp speed!

I wonder about us girls (I still think of myself as a girl) and whether we every completely outgrow our insecurities?  I wish my thighs were more slender and I miss the waist I had before I carried babies in my belly.  Once I considered my full cheeks were a flaw, but now I embrace the joyful expression they provide.  I don't love my thighs, but truthfully, they will not improve as I age, so I better flaunt them as they are.  I witness the girls in our home as they primp, diet and hide behind makeup, clothes and attitude.  They don't yet know they are so gorgeous - each one of them!

How can I convey they are lovely, desirable, accepted and created for purpose?  It's too big a task, I fear.  There are moments where I'm "in" and they hear me...and moments where I feel so shut out.  I want to make the best of those moments when my influence matters and when I have a way to encourage.  I want to point them to the Lord as their mirror and to the Scripture as their source of truth.

I see an ending - one of our girls will be graduating high school in one year.  My season of influence will be short.  I want to make it meaningful.