Dear Daughter, it's Daddy

My Dearest Zuri Li,

It's me, your Daddy.

You are currently inside your Mommy, and we are both so ready to meet you!  You should be here any minute, if you make your mind up on when you want to come!  We had thought it would be Friday.  We even thought it would be on my birthday.  Or on the same day as one of your cousins, another sweet girl who was in her Mom the same time as you.

I am writing because I think that as your Daddy it's kinda up to me to help you find your way.  Not that I am solely responsible, but I take full responsibility as your father to help you find yourself in the defining moments of the foundation of your life.  It's hard to describe, like an intangible energy in my heart toward you.

 I want for your heart to be super secure, at peace, and at rest.  From the get-go.  I've prayed for you, a lot.  Your mom has too.  I've prayed over you and, shoot man I think I've even prayed with you.  Your Mommy and I have both stretched out our hands to her stomach and spoken over you.  One of the things I have prayed over you often is how I never, ever want you to ever feel like you have to earn love, or do anything to be accepted.  Our prayer is that you will live in a home of complete, unconditional love, and that from the earliest age possible you will really understand  that you already are beloved, so dear to us, and you haven't done anything to earn it.  My prayer is that I can represent your true, eternal Father, and by the grace of God demonstrate Who and how He is toward you.

I believe the importance of those prayers, and creating a culture in our home for you of unconditional love, is perhaps the most important thing we can do.  Here in the year 2016 we live in a time where entire generations are competing for attention, affection, and love by any means necessary.  It hits both male and female, but for some reason my heart hurts increasingly when a young woman doesn't really know who she is and tries her hardest to be defined in a way that actually increases her brokenness.  Some try to wear less clothing and to show their bodies, hoping that the attention from their skin and their shape will sooth the wounds of their soul.  Some get into really sad, even abusive relationships just hoping to keep the tank of their heart full, despite knowing who they are with is not really good for them at that time.  In fact what gets me really worked up is how messed up men can be toward women, there are certain men who will treat a woman like a piece of property; and sadly despite all the advancement for woman's rights many girls will still dress and act the part because they feel they at least get some attention.  This horrible cycle only ends up breaking men, and sometimes broken men and women end up breaking their kids.

Your Mommy and I want to raise you in such a way where you will always know who you are and who's you are.  I'm actually going to have to practice restraint in how often I tell you how beautiful and pretty you are, because if you get any of your looks from your Mom you are going to be gorgeous.  I'm already investing into a shot-gun collection to interview your future boyfriends (I kid.  You're just going to date me, and Jesus, fyi.  OK, ok.  I kid again).  HOWEVER, I don't want you to start to think that your outer beauty defines you, or that you have to do ANYTHING regarding how you LOOK to be considered beautiful.

When it comes to your beauty, I hope we teach you that it's really on the inside, despite how outwardly pretty you likely will be.  We hope to bring you to a well within you of perpetual beauty, as you encounter the infinite and abundant love of God.  And we hope to teach you that your beauty and our love for you is not even based on your behavior, as if you could be nice enough or obey us enough for us to love you.  It's simply in being  and knowing who you are, and who's you are.  Nothing is more beautiful than someone who fully and freely knows how to receive and give love away.

 I'm guessing we are going to have to discipline you, although I've been told by some that I'm going to spoil you.  That actually makes me sad because in a few cases I feel like that was said by someone who was surprised by how much I want to be involved in your life.  The truth is, a lot of dad's are absent, either physically or emotionally, from the life of their kids.  It's the sad, sad world we are bringing you into.  The only way I know to start to break this curse is to begin to fully be available for you, and for you to know, starting now, that you are so completely, fully, and unconditionally loved.

At the end of the day, I'm actually going to get all this wrong.  Which is why we also hope to raise you to really know Who's you are.  That you belong to another Father, Who is Father to us all.  In fact, my own Dad went home to heaven to meet Him almost 4 years ago now, and in that time I had to ask Him to adopt me.  He has done so, and taught me a lot about what it means to be His son.  Now, as His son, I have the incredible opportunity before me to be your Daddy.  I know a little bit now about what the absence of a father can do to someones heart, even though I was 29 and had a fairly good amount of years with my dad until he was gone from this earth.   It is my hope that I am able to be with you much longer, in fact I want to stick around until you are a granny one day, maybe even a great granny.  But no matter what, what you really need to know is that you have a Father God, who richly, deeply, and permanently loves you.  It's already a fact, it's unconditional, and it's really unbelievable.

Your Mom and I named you Zuri Li because it means "beautiful healer."  Even as I write to you my own heart heals up, as I embrace to call of God on my life to be your Daddy.  God actually spoke to me about you in this regard before you were here, but that is a story for another day.  I'm sure in the coming years I'll tell you a lot of stories including that one.

For now, sweet baby girl, hurry up and get here so we can start loving you, and pointing you to Jesus and His infinite, perfect love that is just for you!