Delight

Caroline gave me a mug for Christmas this year.  Jeff took her shopping and she picked it out all on her own.  It's a big mug adorned with pink flowers.  She was so proud when I opened it, but that pride pales in comparison to how she reacts when I drink my coffee out of it in the mornings.  That reaction -- or maybe more accurately the way that reaction has sustained in the month since Christmas --has really taken me by surprise.

A mug?

Really?

Though she may not even realize it, I know it's not about the mug.  It's about me truly appreciating something she gave me.  She has a similar reaction when I wear a necklace she picked out for me for Mother's Day last year.  It's hard to put into words the way her face lights up when she feels appreciated.

Delighted in.

I may have missed it earlier in life, it's not a new concept, but that word, delight, has been hovering near my heart over the past six months.  At a conference I went to with friends in the Fall, I went to a session on raising girls and while there was a lot of great information to take in, the one thing that stuck in my mind was that young girls (and older girls I'm sure) need to know that their parents delight in them.  When first spoken, the word conjured in my mind the image of a girl in late afternoon sun, barefoot, with a crown of twisted clovers in her hair, head tilted back as she laughs with her whole self.  The kind of laughter that is infectious.  The kind of laughter that reminds adults what it's like to be a child.  The laugh that makes other people happy.

In the past few days, I've read a couple of things forwarded by friends that drive this point home in a really poignant way for me.  One is a post about the importance of how a father treats his daughter and the other is about actually speaking that delight over our children.

Both have challenged me and encouraged me profoundly.  And reminded me that in word and deed, even in the seemingly simple act of choosing to drink coffee out of a particular mug in the morning or to wear a certain necklace, I get the privilege of delighting in my girls.