The Good Daughter

I grew up in a house with two older sisters. The Lord deemed my parents as excellent girl-raisers. So they got three girls. A couple at my church is expecting their third girl, I believe it is a compliment from God. A sign that they are doing a remarkable job with the first two.

Anyway, while each sister has her different strengths and weaknesses, there is definitely a thick stripe in all of us that marks us as from the same tribe. We all marched in the marching band in some capacity, we all did the musicals, we were all in the high school choir at some point and took some honors classes. We all came to know the Lord at relatively young ages and were active in our faith by high school. This didn't escape the eye of many teachers and various peers.

One way that we attempted to distinguish ourselves, mostly in a joking manner, was being "the good daughter." I am not even sure how it happened, how we started yelling it. But one of us would announce, "I did the dishes, so I am the good daughter today!" or "I'm the good daughter because I helped cook while everyone else sat around on their butt!" When Em was the only bearer of the grand-babies, she had serious good daughter status. How do you compete with that?

Later it morphed into, I am the good daughter because I am the only one who didn't mess up today. I won't broadcast their business on the internet, but I remember the day that two major mess ups came in, one on each sister. I was the good daughter that day for sure. I remember it happening because it was so rare!

We still do it, joke about being "the good daughter." If you are the first one to call on a birthday or anniversary, or if you are the only one in town. You are the good daughter. It is all in good fun for us. But I agree with the sentiment that there is a sliver of truth to everything you joke about.

I think we, me...my sisters...all of us, we like the idea of being favored. Who doesn't want to be the favorite? If you are the favorite then the good you do is extra good, and the bad you do isn't so bad after all. Who doesn't want to be seen through that lens? The part that makes it a little messed up, is the comparison aspect. If I am the favorite that means I am held in MORE favor than someone else. I don't think only children think being the good kid is any big deal. Of course they are the favorite, there isn't another choice.

That is how the Lord is different. He doesn't operate with a concrete amount of favor and once He runs out, sorry about your luck. God is big enough, His love is big enough that everyone can be His favorite. (Someone on the prayer team at my home church prayed that over me, I am not smart enough to realize this on my own.) No seriously, wrap your mind around that. This second you can start claiming that according to God, YOU are the good daughter. Somebody at work not treating you right? That sucks, but rest in the fact that you are God's favorite. Really hard on yourself because you can't lose the rest of the weight you are trying to lose? Keep trying, God favors you.

It doesn't make any sense if you think about it too hard. How can each person be favored, doesn't the word favor connotate picking something above the rest? (Whoa there English teacher I think you are taking your job a little too seriously.... What you gonna diagram the next sentence?) It does. Normally. But God doesn't have to operate within those rules. His love is big enough to allow me and you to be His favorite. So bask in that. You are favored by God. God favors you.

All of this is true, you have to believe it. Because today I am His "good daughter."