To My Daughter Becca on Her Graduation Day

You are a candle lighting the darkness
You are perfume changing the atmosphere
You are confident and unashamed to
Offer the poor and the stranger silver
Trays of healing cordials and living bread

Your story is only in the middle—
Really, it has just begun; title page
Revealing how every disappointment
Every displacement and every loss are
Careful threads at the back of the Persian
Carpet, which, though pulled out from beneath your
Feet, will in time become the flying kind
Over many tribes and tongues and nations

Daughter you become the heir apparent
Of a story only unexpected
Journeys could contain, for the tears and sighs
From which most youth are sheltered came to you
Early, a severe mercy to make space
For all you are destined to inherit—

The first and foremost treasure being joy
And peace so deep it is a work of art
To behold; healing to the heart you reach
And strength to the limbs you touch and restore.
Crowns to you and all those you commission.
A home that’s yours to hold and beautify.
Never to depart, never a goodbye.

 


 

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  • Elizabeth Huff says:

    This is beautiful. Thank you for being the kind of father who is brave enough to expose their daughter to such rich experiences which will mark her soul forever, risking exposure to disappointment and loss. Thank you for valuing the Kingdom in a way that touches generations. Bless you!

    Elizabeth Huff

  • Caroline Ransom says:

    . . . These words are healing as I take hold of the promise of my powerful weakness. This past year has felt like many rugs being pulled out from underneath me. But He is so faithful. My tears from wounds continents away are softening the hardened soil and the even harder hearts of this land…. I am convinced. This makes me really excited for the soaring and MORE to come that He has. Thank you for going before me and being a father to many daughters.

    • Kurt Mahler says:

      Dear Caroline, thank you for who you are; thank you for treating me like family. I am glad we can share together in the discovery of how He turns weakness into strength until the day comes when His joy becomes our strength. ~ km

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