Daughters and Mirrors

*I wrote this post for When You Rise but wanted to include it here for our memories too!*

It is a little unnerving having a daughter. I know what is ahead for her. I know the pressures she will face from this world. I know that she will question if she is pretty enough or good enough. The world will want her to believe she is only as good as the clothing she wears or the style of her hair. I know because I have been there. Because I am there. 

She is only three. But, I know that it is never too young to teach her the Truth. I pray that these little seeds I plant through scripture songs and crafty projects will bury deep inside her heart and bloom in the days to come when she needs them most. Because she will need them. 

I decided that a scripture I definitely wanted buried inside her heart was 1 Samuel 16:7 -"Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." We used the Songs for Saplings CD that had this verse put to music to help us learn the words. We really love this CD! It is another one we can have playing throughout the day and never get too tired of it! (Also, you can find free printables for the verses on this CD here...we didn't use them this time, but they look like an excellent resource!)

The first thing we did was find the verse in my Bible. We read it out loud taking it word by word. I knew the first part might be confusing for her, after all she is three and "outward appearance" has never even entered her vocabulary. The easiest way for me to explain this was to tell her what I saw when I looked at her...brown hair, a pink shirt, happy smile, etc. Then, I let her tell me what she saw when she looked at me. Her answer? "A mama." Ha! She finally got it and even had the chance to look and describe the outward appearance of her brother, Easton. Then, we talked about how God could see our hearts. We use the terms happy heart and sad heart around our house. We talked about how God could see whether we had happy or sad hearts and sometimes even mad hearts. She seemed to really understand that. Sweet and simple. 

While we had my Bible out I let her highlight the verse for me. I loved seeing her baby hands highlighting the Living Word. I know I will treasure looking back on this verse throughout the years and remember those sweet hands digging into scripture!

I wish I had a cute printable for you for the next activity, but I don't. In fact, I literally drew these two mirrors, heart, and basic face shape about 5.6 seconds before we got started. That's pretty much my life right now. :) But, it's okay. I'm okay with it. And the mirrors don't look too bad. At least you can kind of figure out what they are!

We put a simple face in one of the mirrors to symbolize the first part of the verse...

"Man looks on the outward appearance

...and we put a red heart in the next mirror to symbolize the second part of the verse.

but the LORD looks at the heart."

The next little activity we did involved the cutest Melissa & Doug Mirror that came with glitter and jewels and stickers for decorating. Lauren really enjoyed this one! I wrote the verse on the backside of the mirror because I know that she is a girl and she will be drawn to a mirror. It is totally inevitable. It's important to me that she have that reminder that no matter what the mirror sees, God looks at her heart. I figure if she is going to look at it anyway, why not have some Truth written all over it! :) It can't hurt, right!?

When she was looking in the mirror I asked her what she saw. She said, "I see God down in my heart." Is that not the most precious thing ever?!?!

I am including this sweet and so funny (I crack up every time I watch it) video to show that even though I worked really hard to sink this verse into her memory, she is still three. :) I am totally okay with the fact that she doesn't have it memorized just yet. Seeds are being planted.