You Are Loved

I wear a special piece of jewelry on my right ring finger. It has lettering embedded all the way around the band and five jewels strategically placed according to my design. I wear it all the time and will do so until the day I die… not because it is made of gold or has different colored stones… My ring is special because of the people it represents.

Occasionally you will find me rotating it back and forth in a meeting or feeling it at random throughout the day. If you are paying attention to this phenomenon, you may even catch me looking at the ring in my open hand and my eyes glazing over for a moment or two.

No, I do not have the ring of power from the Lord of the Rings novels. To me, I have something much greater. I have the names and birthstones of each of my five daughters strategically situated on my gold band to remind me of them as I go about my day. When I am reminded, I look at the palm of my hand, read the name facing me and take a moment to pray specifically for her: For her life, for her surroundings, for her future and for her safety. Each time I look at my palm the name changes and I pray accordingly.

I love my daughters more than words can say. After all, I am their father.

There is one, however, that loves them even more than I.

Their Heavenly Father. The one who fashioned them together in the womb and caused their hearts to beat. The one who knew them before they were born… even before I was born. The one who knows the number of hairs on their heads and watches over them when I can not. In Isaiah 49:16, the Lord says, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands!”

Girls, each of you are beautiful, special and wonderful in your own way. I am in awe of you and so proud that you are my children. You are in my prayers, my thoughts, my dreams and even on the palm of my hand.

You are loved