Longer Daddy Longer

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”

1 Peter 2:9


It was Mark Twain who once said, “I can go three months on one good compliment.” The Bible has much to say about the power of our words and their effect on other people’s lives. James says our tongue can be used both positively and negatively. When we use it the way God intended our tongues can bring hope and healing. Negatively our tongues can destroy like a wildfire and cut like a knife. It’s true, our words can either build people up or tear them down. The book of Proverbs reminds us that life and death are in the power of the tongue and that the right words at just the right moment have the ability to promote healing in our bones.

Last week we hired some employees to work in our new coffee house and we invited them to an orientation dinner so everyone could meet one another before we started our training this week. As I kicked off the night I shared with the girls around the table that we had received many applications for employment but this group was special because they were hand picked from all the applications we received. We set out that night to affirm each girl and as I looked at the girls as we shared you could see the glow radiating from their faces. One of the girls at the end of the evening actually asked us to share with the group what it was that we saw in them which brought to my mind a true story I had heard years ago about a Father and a conversation he was having with his two year old daughter, Jenny.

Jenny was the youngest of two sisters and her Dad decided it was time for a daddy daughter date one Saturday morning. He took his two year old to a local pancake shop and ordered them breakfast. Just before they began to dig in Jennys dad tried the best he could to explain to his two year old daughter just how much he loved her. He began by telling Jenny that she was a gift from God, an answer to her Mom and Dad’s prayers. He then began to tell her how beautiful she was when she was born and how her hair was so soft and her eyes so blue. Jenny just sat there and as her dad finished and began to put his fork to his mouth, his daughter reached across the table and placed her little hand on her father’s and said, “Longer daddy, longer.” This went on each time the father would share some little detail of his daughter and how happy he was with her progress as she was growing up to be such a wonderful daughter who made her mom and dad so very proud. Jenny would say for the third and then the forth time, “longer daddy, longer.” Needless to say, this dad didn’t get much eating done that day but his daughters heart was made full as she fed on every word her father spoke.

As we went around the table and shared with each of the girls what we saw in them, it was as if they, without uttering a word, just by their expressions and attentiveness were like little Jenny saying, “longer, daddy longer.” It was a sweet moment and a powerful reminder that not only two year olds but also twenty-two year old’s need affirmation too. Are you need of encouragement today? Could you use a little affirmation in your own life? Pick up God’s love letter to you and read for yourself His thoughts about you. Nobody loves you like your Daddy (Abba Father) loves you!

Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 31:3, “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

Psalm 139:13-16, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”

John 15:16, “I chose you.”


Isaiah 43:4, “Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you;”


I LOVE YOU!