She was born on a monday.

It was a day worthy of memory:  a miracle.  a first.  a day the world changed for the better.

A day my life changed for the better.

That day her grandfather walked into my room and slipped a torn piece of paper into my hand – I know his handwriting as well as I know his face – "Rachel was beautiful and well favored Gen. 29:17" it said.  My father-in-law, a prophet.  Telling Truth.  Again.  

How could he know then this child was set apart?  

Covenant theology?  How he knew she'd be raised?  A spiritual quickening impossible to explain in the natural?  None of which matters, of course, the how or the why of it.  

But she is beautiful and well favored and not just in ways common or expected.  A stranger might pass her by on the street and think pretty girl, but if you know her, and I mean really know her, you'll be blinded by her Light.  

It's not of this world.

Christ in her, Hope of Glory I think.  Yes…that.

It's not that she's perfect; there are things I'd like to change.  But it is those very things that have changed me…shaped me into better form.

One of the greatest challenges of a mother is to let her children BE.  Let your chil' be!  I wanna shake it into the mamas who are trying to fit their babies into Proper Boxes.  The way they dress.  Their hairstyle.  Hobbies.  Simple Choices, none of them breaking moral.  

Look at her heart! see.her.heart! I'm still a' shakin' it into 'em.  Wait.  I'm shaking that into me.  Still.  

This child amazes me.  She's heroine by definition: "a woman admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities" but she'd roll her eyes so far back they'd near 'bout fall out. 

I've spoken of her brother's Superpowers but for some reason I don't name hers out loud as often.  I don't know why…they're just as affecting.  I make a mental note to sow these Life Things into her soul, speak them out loud.  

She can see into you, she can.  It's because she sincerely cares enough to and she's willing to take the time.  She's deliberate.  Determined.  Not afraid of hard work.  She dares to be different.  

Aren't those all Superpowers that used to be quite common but got lost as time marched?   She found a pile and put them to good use.

Every day she moves farther from this nest.  Hardly detectable by sight, but, oh, how this heart feels it.  It is good and I'm glad, but I'm not a fan of its sting.  

She was born on a monday, 20 years ago today.