Hear Me: Your Daddy is proud of you!
Today, as I went about my day, I heard something that has resonated throughout the day, and I want to share it with you.
Photo by Edward Cisneros on Unsplash |
This message percolated throughout the day, coming up over and over, and even as the day ended with a long conversation with a good friend, she reminded me yet again how far I've come in my growth, and I heard it again.
Even as I almost skipped putting up a post today, because it was long and I was tired... I sat down and wondered what He might want me to tell you... and I know that what I heard isn't just for today or for me, but it's for you too, so I'm sharing.
God: Your Daddy is proud of you!
Your earthly Dad may have been many things, anywhere on the spectrum from highly loving and engaged to aloof to absent to abusive.
Your Heavenly Father is different from all of those types of dads. He is incapable of not loving you.
Right about this point, I hear the voice in my head (and yours) scoff.
Yeah Right! If God loved me, xyz wouldn't have happened.
I know. I hear you. I feel that pain. Here and now, I validate that and I acknowledge that emotion. It's real. Life sucks sometimes, for some of us most of the time.
Lay love aside for the moment, because what I'm saying is so much deeper and more profound than that.
Your Daddy (God) is PROUD of you!
That's even harder to swallow. Religion has informed us that we don't measure up to his standards, we need to improve, be better, be less or more (fill in the religious blank here) to earn his love and acceptance.
Some idiots (yes I used that word) with picket signs are standing outside of a Gay Pride parade with a sign that says "God Hates Gays". And you might be one of the ones who've read that sign, and you are saying "God's not proud of me, he doesn't even like me".
I'm here to tell you. YES, HE IS.
A good Daddy is proud of his kids for their attempts at being what he created them to be. A small toddler taking his/her first steps and falling into waiting arms is not judged by their success or failure.
As a Daddy myself, I assure you, it was the attempt that had us beaming with pride. "Look at that! My kid! My kid walked! Sure, it was a half-step stumble fall, but it counts!"
Why? Not because they're the best walker in the world, but it's because we see the potential inside of them being realized. Because of what we see in them.
Your Daddy created perfection when He created you, and that's what he sees.
Sure, He sees the mistakes, but He's got those covered. Accept his game-plan for Life (read more here) and he'll handle the "mistakes" on his own, without your help.
Stop.
Right now. Stop.
Get quiet. Close your eyes. If you are alone say this out loud, if not, say it quietly to yourself.
"Daddy (God)(Pappa)... Are you really proud of me?"
Then be quiet. Let Him speak. If you've never tried to hear God speak, it might be hard to distinguish, that's okay. Repeat this exercise daily until you start to hear him. He wants to talk. And when you start hearing the God of the Universe tell you how proud He is of you... Everything else just doesn't matter as much as it used to.
Tell Your Kids: Your Daddy is proud of you!
Once you sit with that and own it, tell people. If you have children, no matter how old, even adult children... Tell them how proud you are of them. Forget performance. Who cares what choices they made that you disagree with. Who cares what "sin" they're living in according to you. You go validate the potential God put inside of them.
Find something, anything, that you can praise, and praise the heck out of it!
Make banners, frames, post-cards, whatever it takes.
Be genuine, sincere, and not fake about it. For that to work, you have to own it and believe it first.
Good leaders know that catching someone doing good and praising them for it is 100% of times more powerful in creating good behavior than correcting something bad.
Go find something you can be proud of, even if it's unrealized and untapped potential, and praise it!
Tell Your People: Your Daddy is proud of you!
Maybe you don't have kids or you're estranged from them. You have access to someone. Some human in your world, no matter how small, the mailman if need be, that you can do this with. Go tell them, their Daddy is proud of them.
Your Turn:
Comment below, what's one thing you are proud of in someone in your life!
Shalom: Live Long and Prosper!
Darrell Wolfe (DG Wolfe)
Storyteller | Writer | Thinker | Consultant @ DarrellWolfe.com
Clifton StrengthsFinder: Intellection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input
16Personalities (Myers-Briggs Type): INFJ
Clifton StrengthsFinder: Intellection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input
16Personalities (Myers-Briggs Type): INFJ
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