A Letter To My Daughter On Her 17th Birthday

To Lilly on Her 17th Birthday,

According to Jesus, who was worthy of blessing and to experience the Kingdom of God?

Think about the people Jesus wanted us to reevaluate? Little children, the last and the first, Samaritans(even sinful ones), tax collectors, and the sick and dying all had their fates and worthiness already determined by a society obsessed with appearances, categories, labels, judgement, condescension, and condemnation.

Jesus rejected this notion. For Jesus, there is nothing about a person’s exterior that determines blessedness. It is a matter of the heart. For “man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart.”

You are at an age where aesthetics and vibes rule and affect choices from what people eat for breakfast to how they wear their shoelaces. As important as these things might seem to you today, they are not a recipe for true blessedness and a good life. 

The good life comes from knowing Christ and having the power of his resurrection in your life. The good life comes from letting him wash the inside of our cup so that the inside and the outside glistens and shines. The good life begins and ends with Christ and is not determined by your status, your circumstances, your phone notifications, or any of the other ways we try to score our life.

I hope that I have given you a small example of what this blessed life with Christ looks like and that the peace and joy that is available in Christ has shown through my life for you to see. When that has not been the case, I ask for forgiveness. 

My best life has been when I have let him live his life through me as if he were me. This is where I have found blessedness, this is where I have found direction and purpose, this is where I have found love and acceptance. You can find this too. I have already seen him work in you and your sweet nature, warm compassion, many talents, and resilient character. Let your heart know the Christ of love and new beginnings and trust his ways as you grow up to be a beautiful, smart, and inspiring young woman.

May you take in Jesus’ words and let them ruminate in your heart and soul so you can live a life full of goodness, beauty, and truth. Blessed is Lilly on her Seventeenth Birthday for hers “is the kingdom of heaven, for she shall receive mercy, for she shall be comforted, for she shall be filled, for she shall see God, for she shall be called a child of God.”