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All Dressed Up and Someplace to Go
Grab
Money
Car keys
Camera
Go
Your daughter may be rough-and-tumble or as feminine as they come. Regardless, sometimes a girl needs a really beautiful dress for a holiday or other special occasion. Nobody is better than a dad at making a daughter feel like a princess!
Escort your daughter to a local clothing or department store. Choose a variety of dresses from the racks and have your daughter try them on in the dressing room. Make sure she models each one so you can “ooh and aah” and take her picture. Veto any choices that don’t fit well or are immodest. Have her set her favorites to the side in a “maybe pile.” If she doesn’t care for any of them, take the time to shop at other stores until you find the one.
Take a look at each dress in the maybe pile. Take a look at the photos in your digital camera as well. Narrow the choices down by having your daughter eliminate one at a time until you have a final decision.
You may have shopped till you dropped, but your daughter will think of her time with you whenever she wears her beautiful new dress.
Grow
Choosing a new dress is one way you’re getting ready for a special day. Taking the time to look your best and putting on something different from the ordinary makes it even more memorable.
God made his girls to be beautiful on the outside and the inside:
Beauty doesn’t come from hairstyles, gold jewelry, or clothes. Rather, beauty is something internal that can’t be destroyed. Beauty expresses itself in a gentle and quiet attitude which God considers precious. (1 Pet. 3:3–4 GW)
Watching your daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a million-dollar Stradivarius to a gorilla.
Jim Bishop
God is different from the rest of us:
The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Sam. 16:7)
Even when we’re having a “bad hair day” or our clothes are out of style, God is looking at how we love him and each other. Let’s enjoy “dressing up” our hearts with his kind of beauty!
Dear Father,
Thank you for my beautiful girl. Not only is she wonderful to look at on the outside, she has a sweet spirit and kindness that make her shine! Please protect her mind from believing that her worth is found in her looks. Help her to care more about her heart attitudes than her outfits. May the dress we found today bring a smile whenever she wears it—we’ll be remembering her heart and her inner beauty! We love you. Amen.