Each day could be THE day..

“When I get all growed up, I’m gonna wear that dress and get married, and Daddy is gonna walk me down the aisle.” That was what I heard this afternoon, when I sat down at my kitchen table to work on some writing. Ainsley’s words from earlier that day were ringing in my mind and echoing from my heart. You see, I recently framed some of our wedding pictures and hung them up in our bedroom. Ainsley has been fascinated. She has asked me a million questions about when Mommy and Daddy got married.“Did Daddy buy you that pretty shiny ring when you got married, Mommy?” “Did you marry Daddy in that picture Mommy?” “I like your hair in that picture, Mommy?” “I looooove your dress, Mommy! What kind of princess dress is that?”Last night, when I was tucking her in bed, she persisted in inquiring about my wedding dress, and I finally asked her if she wanted to see it. To my heart’s delight, her eyeballs nearly popped out of her head, and she ecstatically replied, “Yes!” So I promised her I would pull it out of the closet the next day, and she could view it through its little “wedding dress viewing window.” This morning, first thing: “Mommy, are you going to show me your dress?”Away to the closet we dashed. The big unveil did not disappoint, and my heart was full when she responded immediately, “When I get all growed up, I’m gonna wear this dress, Mommy!” Of course, every Mommy’s heart’s wish is that their daughter will want to wear their wedding dress on their own special day. That’s why we shrink-wrap it in a three hundred dollar box with a viewing window for twenty-five years. We always think that our dress will be the timeless design that will never go out of fashion or style. Then in some small way, we will have passed on a beautiful treasure of what was a most profound day in our past. In actuality, she will probably want her daddy to buy her a brand-new sparkling gown when it’s her turn. My timeless gown will probably have acquired years of dust only to be turned away and adored by me alone, while my daughters simply view it through its neatly placed window. The deeper and more profound thought this experience with my daughter has provoked though is found in this statement: Our hope and prayer is that, that day in the past will have a place in our daughter’s future.But as I dwell on the above statement, I’m hit with a more profound day. Every day I make a choice to follow Christ. Every day I make a choice of who and what I am living for. Every day could very well be the day that has a profound place in my daughters’ future.With every new treasure, or pearl, of God’s Word I uncover and then actively apply, I am advancing in my faith. With every new spiritual stake I drive down into the earth, I am claiming that day as the day I desire to have a profound impact on my children’s future. I’m suggesting that we begin to clothe ourselves with the “garment of Christ” every day, so we are “boxing up” a much grander garment than a mere earthly wedding gown.“Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” {Isaiah 52:1-2}God is calling his royal daughters into a new era of blessing for themselves and the whole world. By “putting on your strength,” God is calling you to live as He has intended you to live: fully beautiful, fully adorned, and fully radiant…just as a bride on her most special wedding day.My wedding day was one of the most brilliantly gorgeous days of my entire life. That one decision will continue to impact my children as my husband and I build a life together in front of them. But more important than the “moment” of that day and what I wore is the “strength of Christ’s might” that I wear every day. Those days and what I wear on those days count just as much. The “everyday” dress matters just as much as the wedding dress.As we become willing to take off our fake pearls, we can anticipate beauty and authentic pearls of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control” {Galatians 5:22-23}. We can anticipate a double strand of pearls for all we have given up and laid down at the altar of the King. “Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall receive everlasting joy!” {Isaiah 61:7}So when Ainsley “gets all growed up” and wears my wedding dress, I hope she is adorned with much more than an earthly garment. I hope she is adorned with the pearls of wisdom, grace, loving-kindness, and compassion. As the Hebrew word nipleti states, she believes to the depths of her core that she is “fearfully set apart.” My prayer is that when her generation of Glorious Daughters adorns themselves for the beauty of their wedding day, they are clothed with every beauty and strength of the Bride of Christ.