Princess

Most little girls like to play “dress up” and be a princess for a day. Although I liked to play “dress up” as a child, I usually chose a cowboy outfit or one that represented a superhero. I was not your average little girl. My dad, though, treated me like a princess. In fact, that’s what my daddy called me ‘til the day he died. Recently, a friend of mine asked the question: When I get to be (let’s say) 50, will my daddy still call me his princess? It reminded me of the power of our words.

One little word – princess – spoken to a little girl makes her feel like royalty! How many little girls out there are waiting for that kind of spoken love? Sad to say, many will never hear it from their dads or the men in their lives. They need us, as Christian sisters, to reveal to them that, as the King’s daughters, they ARE royalty! They ARE His princesses! They ARE His treasured possessions! What kind of a difference do you think that would make in the life of a child, a teenager, or a young woman? Proverbs 25:11 says, A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Sounds to me like our words are pretty powerful and, when spoken appropriately, bring much delight. I encourage you to look around you for those young women who never “hear” love spoken to them. What can you do to change the way they feel about themselves and about the Father?

As a little girl my mom would dress me in frilly dresses, curl my long hair with ringlets, and gave me a pink bedroom complete with canopy bed and French provincial furniture. As a teenager, my mom enrolled me in charm classes and insisted on proper etiquette. Raised in the north by a British mother, my mom was surrounded by china tea cups, tea parties, frills, lace, and finery. She was a Victorian-style woman and she wanted me to be a girly-girl like her. Now, imagine the opposite of that and you have a picture of ME – at home in flip flops, jeans, and a t-shirt, my goal is comfort over style … and that applies in most areas of my life.

For over 30 years, I have served alongside my husband in youth ministry. While not “polished” in any way, our approach to ministry could be classified as one filled with comfort – food, relaxation, friendship, mentoring, fun, Bible study, trips, and sweet tea. It’s the kind of ministry methodology that sounds a bit like the words of the Beverly Hillbillies’ song: “You're all invited back again to this locality to have a heapin’ helpin’ of their hospitality … Set a spell, take your shoes off. Y'all come back now, ya hear?”