Melted.........

I know it's been a while since I have blogged. It was a funny kind of day for me. I came home from work and Matt picked up the kids. He came through the door fussing with Abby. Up until today, Abby had decided she did not want to go to the Winter Ball at school. But she had spent the day talking to friends, her friends were going and they had practiced their silly dances at school today during recess. One little girl cried at recess because her boyfriend was dancing with another girl during recess. For those of you who do not know, my daughter is in the first grade. However, tonight it seemed more like she was sixteen. I told Matt I would take her to the winter ball.
We sat down to eat dinner, and Matt and I were watching "Everybody Loves Raymond". Funny thing is, his daughter was invited to a formal dance. Everyone was going, and wearing beautiful formal dresses. Raymond took his daughter dress shopping, and the dress she needed for this formal affair was $250. He decided this was ridiculous, and he was not going to spend this kind of money on a dress for his young daughter to wear to a formal dance. To make a long story short, he feels bad for his daughter and doesn't want her to feel left out, so he goes behind his wife's back and buys the dress for his daughter. It is sweet to see a daughter melt her daddy's heart.
I saw my very own daughter do that to her daddy tonight. We picked a black dress out of her closet, fixed her, applied some glitter, and lip gloss. She was beautiful. Her daddy kept telling her, now I don't want you to dance with any boys. Just go and have fun with your friends. What I can't describe in words is the look on her daddy's face to see his daughter get dressed for her first dance. (we were not expecting this to happen for several more years). But I could see his heart melt as a he hugged his little girl. It was very sweet.
I took my daughter to this winter ball. We have never been before, so I didn't know what to expect. We just put on the prettiest dress in her closet and fixed her all up and off we went. We pulled into the school parking lot, and little girls were getting out in formal dresses, little boys in tuxedo's. That's when my heart melted. I didn't want my little girl to feel like that little girl on Everybody Loves Raymond. But I watched my daughter get out of the truck, and it was as if she didn't see what people were wearing. She was just excited to be there. We walked in and she found her friends. I watched them all dance, found out my daughter knows the mac arena, and just enjoyed being there.
A part of me wanted to cry, but I was so proud of her. Yes, she was beautiful in her very informal dress, but she was even more beautiful with every bit of fun that she had in her informal dress. It didn't matter what she had on, it didn't matter what her friends had on. They all took pictures together, danced together, and just enjoyed being with friends. To me that made her more beautiful than I can even describe to you.
That reminded me how we as Christians are suppose to be. We should never walk in admiring everyone else, or wishing we had what other people had. We should walk in with a good attitude. An attitude of joy, and love we have for each other. We should never be separated by what we wear, what job title we have, our intelligence or lack there of. It didn't matter if Abby's friends were rich, poor, or over weight. All she saw was a group of friends that she wanted to have fun with. The only way we can truly show the love of Christ, is to show our hearts. I am so proud of watching my daughter tonight.