Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Teenagers, Birthday Cakes and Purity Rings



This month our 2nd daughter turned 13 years old. Around this time, I like to emphasize (2) important things to our girls. Number one, despite recent upsets, they do have a Godly Heritage. On both sides of the family, they have parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. who have honored God and have therefore allowed a generational blessing to be passed down for them to enjoy. Number two, I like to emphasize the Godly Community that surrounds them. They have Godly teachers, leaders, mentors, friends, and friends of their parents all around them. Despite how they may feel from time to time, they do not walk the Christian journey alone. There are many others who walk it as well, along side them. There are many who are watching over them, encouraging them, hoping the best for them, and who are willing to pull them away from questionable situations. I joke (only slightly) that there are many "momma's" and "papa's" that are looking out for them in this city! On that note, we are so thankful to everyone who took time away from their busy Christmas schedule to spend the afternoon with us and were such a blessing to Hosanna.

At the Ramsdell home, our daughters origionally initiated the idea of getting a purity ring. In our family, the ring simply represents a Godly desire. We believe that the particular desire to stay pure until marriage is a worthy one to pursue and is definately worth our affirmation. I have emphasized with my girls, maybe all their lives, that their responsibility at this time in terms of male/female relationships is not to pursue a young man, nor is it to seek the pursuit of a young man -- even if it is a Godly young man. Their responsibility is to become the right young woman. If the principle that we "attract who we are" makes any sense, and I belive it does, taking the time to become Miss Right before attempting to land Mr. Right makes all the difference. When our daughters asked for purity rings, we realized it does not speak to what will happen over the next 10 years or so. It does however speak alot about the kinds of women my girls desire to become. We believe that the "becoming" must begin to take place before the "pursuing". When Hosanna finally reaches her wedding day, what sweet gifts, the gifts of her purity and loyalty, will be. How helpful to a marriage to already have done work in the areas of patience, perserverance, loyalty and waiting.

So...today...we presented our daughter with a purity ring as a symbol of our affirmation of who she is, who she desires to become and of the future relationship we pray she has one day with her husband.

Recently, she told me she didn't like the color blue. She told me this AFTER I'd bought her a blue ring and had it sized for her 3 3/4 finger! My reasoning on getting this blue ring was an old tradition. At least in the South, girls wear something Old, something New, something Borrowed, something BLUE. So, I thought that just maybe her ring may become her "something blue".

Our Christian community layed hands on her and prayed for God's blessing on her life. We ate cake and opened presents. It was a nice day...a sweet party and we are so happy God is allowing us to be able to raise such a sweet girl!

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