22 Reasons She is Lovely: the Happy Birthday Sophie edition

Dec 24, 2014Family Uncaged

She cried her way into Christmas Eve, one week early as usual, twenty-two years ago today. And I’m so very grateful to a merciful God who demonstrated such mercy in the person of my daughter. She is mercy. She is joy. She is lovely.

Let me count the ways:

  1. She makes faces. One thousand of them. I’ve always said that when she marries, she has to marry a man who truly appreciates her crazy faces.
  2. She loves to dig into theology, way down to its essence, chewing on it a bit.
  3. And then she takes what she learns and shares truth compellingly to many.
  4. She is a great roommate.
  5. She is a terrific, attentive, giving sister. She loves her brother and sister very well.
  6. She is funny in the driest British way.
  7. She has a strong work ethic.
  8. She considers others as worthy of her attention. She goes out of her way for her friends.
  9. She prays and believes truly in the power of prayer. She’s seen God specifically answer big and small prayers over the years.
  10. She chooses great friends, and they choose her.
  11. She has a unique sense of style.
  12. She is resolute about her beliefs, but she also welcomes conversation and dignifies other people’s beliefs.
  13. She has a beautiful singing voice.
  14. She can capture people and places through the lens of her camera.
  15. That girl can COOK and she is bursting with hospitality.
  16. She believes in the power of community.
  17. She sacrifices for others. (She’s sacrificed for me, even this week.)
  18. She is intuitive about others’ pain and does practical things to meet people’s needs in painful situations.
  19. She asks great questions.
  20. She laughs.
  21. She is way more travel savvy than me, and such a great train-taker, plane-flyer, direction-finder.
  22. She has a heart for this entire world, and loves to see cultures in their context.

Sophie, I love you. I am so proud of you, of who you’re becoming. In five months, you’ll graduate college. New adventures await you. I admire your faith, your tenacity, your patience, your travail in prayer for things big and small. You make me smile and laugh and not take myself so dang seriously. You are a gift.

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