The moment we first hold our new-born child, our world changes.
We live for her now. We’ll mark the passage of time with milestones in hers:
When she takes her first steps.
The first day we leave her at school—with our hearts aching.
When she makes her first communion, dressed in white.
When she scores her first goal.
The day she enters high school— and then, in a flash, when she leaves home for college.
When we walk her down the aisle one day, our hearts aching again.
———
Lord, help me become a good father!
May I protect her in this fallen world, .
Lead her on the right path,
Help her become kind, grateful, confident,
A person of faith, full of hope for her future.
May I look back without regret,
That I spent too much time at the office,
That I missed a milestone,
That I would give her any doubt of my love for her.
Lord, make me strong,
Make me holy,
Rightly oriented to be the man she needs me to be,
So that she becomes the woman you want her to be.
