Yes, you read that right. I think you and your daughter should start planning her wedding as soon as she understands what a wedding and marriage is.
My 15-year-old daughter has been talking to me for years about the kind of wedding she wants. She even has a Pinterest board filled with ideas. The girl’s got good taste.
It used to annoy me when she would interrupt me what felt like every five minutes to show me a wedding dress on the Internet. I thought about it and decided I’d rather have her dream about her future wedding than sit in a corner worried whether or not some guy likes her.
Think about it. A girls wedding is one of the highest points in her life. She dreams about it. She wonders what her dress will look like and how she will wear her hair. She dreams of all the eyes watching her as she elegantly floats down the aisle on her daddy’s arm. She imagines the look on her grooms face when he first sees her, his beautiful bride.
Then, there is the reception. My girl wants a big outdoor tent for dinner and dancing with lots of candles and white twinkle lights. There will be a band, delicious food, a stunning cake and guests will throw sprinkles at her and her man as they leave, instead of rice. It will be her special dream come true night.
I want my daughter, and yours, to be so in love with and protective of the plans God has for her life that the cheap imitations the world offers would pale in comparison. I want our girls to be so secure and sure of God’s plan that they don’t say yes to the first boy who shows an interest in them. That they would trust that the right guy will come along in God’s timing.
In contrast…
Have you ever taken your kids to the store with you and they’re hungry and their own money is burning a hole in their pocket? It almost never fails. My daughter will ask me if she can buy herself a soda or a candy bar with her money. And it always happens at the weirdest places like the fabric store, where candy bars and sodas couldn’t possibly be any more expensive. Who pays over a dollar for a regular sized candy bar? I digress.
The conversations usually go something like this:
“I thought you were saving your money for that shirt at the mall,” I ask.
“Oh yeah. I changed my mind about it ” or “Yeah, but I’m hungry”. Rarely does she agree with me and ends up buying that treat anyway. Most often, though, she ends up wishing she had saved her money for that shirt after all.
The same principle is true with boy girl relationships. Their friends have boyfriends, the girls at the mall have boyfriends, she sees a boy at school give his girlfriend roses and she longs for that attention and affection. It’s completely normal to want what we don’t have, and to want to fit in. We were designed to crave masculine attention.
But. If we empower and encourage our daughters to hold their hands open wide to receive the bounty of blessings God is just waiting to give her, (because you don’t have to chase after God; He’s waiting for you to ask) I daresay she will spend the rest of her life repeating prayers of gratitude to the Lord for that bounty of blessings in the man she waited for. God wants to lavish our kids with His love and gift them with His perfect plan for marriage.
This is how we’re doing it in our home. What about you?
Does your daughter dream of her wedding? Did you dream of yours?
I’d love to share a Whatever Girls resource with you. “The Importance of the Father Daughter Relationship”, something to keep in mind and close to your heart. Especially if you’re raising a daughter.
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