Held In High Esteem

The other day, my niece Alli was sitting beside me on the couch, typing away at her laptop.  I asked her how she was doing, and she sighed heavily.  She had signed up for a summer program to get one class out of the way, but it was requiring more time than she had anticipated.  She was working on an assignment about self-esteem, and her frequent groans indicated how juvenile she found the whole exercise to be.  Half-jokingly, she turned to me and pleaded, “I need to write down ten good things about myself.  Help!!”  I only had to stop and think for a millisecond before I could think of oh, fifty good things about her.  She’s mature, she thinks of others before herself, she is spiritually-minded, she has a wonderful sense of humor, she is adventurous (especially with watersports – that girl can hang on to a tube with the big boys.  And don’t get me started on her love of insanely high rollercoasters), she is a faithful friend, she knows her own mind, she is extremely generous, she is an excellent conversationalist…I could go on and on.  Every summer she spends with us in Connecticut leaves me more and more amazed at the Godly woman she is growing into, and I am more and more thankful to have her in my life.

Jim’s and my seven-year anniversary is coming up, and today I was fondly reminiscing about our wedding day.  Alli was our flower girl.  She was eight-years old, still in elementary school, playing on the monkey bars at recess and carrying a back-pack that looked bigger than she was.  It is so hard to believe that that little (well-beloved) whippersnapper is now a fifteen-year-old beauty.  In high school.  With a learner’s permit to drive.      

She flew back home to Arizona today, leaving us with an empty place in our house, but hearts full of great summer memories.  Once again, I have to thank her parents for being willing to part with her for our benefit.  And for raising such a great kid.  Alli’s an answer to prayer in so many ways. 

So Alli, I don’t know what you ended up writing about in your self-esteem assignment, but I do know that you are loved from one coast of this country to the other.  We miss you already.