Father’s prayer for daughter

A Father’s Prayer for His Daughter
By: Brent Rinehart

“Behold, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:3-5)

The father-daughter relationship is particularly important. According to the Institute for Family Studies, well-fathered daughters are more likely to graduate from college, get higher paying jobs, are more self-disciplined and confident, and are less likely to become sexual active or pregnant in their early teenage years.

How do we even begin to ensure our daughters are “well-fathered”? Well, it begins with being present, physically and mentally. Beyond that, it takes being intentional. Sometimes, it may mean saying things to your daughter that she doesn’t want to hear or that go against the grain of society. As our daughters grow, it means “keeping it real” (do the kids still say that?) with them, as opposed to telling them what they want to hear or what their friends say. Here are a few things I believe every daughter needs to hear from her father.

1. “Loving others is more important than being loved by others.” The things that are a big deal to you now won’t mean so much to you later. Trust me. Focus on things that will stand the test of time. Instagram likes may seem important, but they are meaningless. There’s nothing more important than being the type of person who cares about others. If you are that girl, I promise you that others will recognize and appreciate you for it.

2. “One seemingly small decision can change your life forever.” Peer pressure is built on the false premise of something not being a big deal. Kids will try to convince other kids to do something they shouldn’t with phrases like, “no one will ever know” or “everyone is doing it.” You need to understand the significance of decisions you make in your youth. One act can have repercussions for decades, or change the course of your life forever. It’s only because of God’s grace that my life has turned out the way it has.

3. “Intelligence, confidence, self-assurance, compassion: these are the traits that define beauty.” Don’t read silly magazines that claim to have all the “beauty secrets.” They are lying to you. There are no beauty secrets. You are already beautiful, inside and out. God gave you the ability to be a smart and confident young woman. God gives you opportunities to show compassion to others. Don’t waste time on the insignificant and neglect these opportunities.

4. “If God remains first in your life, you’ll have fewer regrets when you get to be your dad’s age.” Don’t worry about all these things that seem important in your younger years. Just focus on God. Jesus himself tells us: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33).

A Prayer for Your Daughter

Father, thank you for my family. You’ve have blessed me so much, entrusting me to care for my children. Help me to be the father you have called me to be. Give me the strength to teach my daughter how to be the woman you have called her to be. Give me the courage to say the things she needs to hear, even if they are not the things she wants to hear. Give me wisdom to know what to say, and give her a tender heart to be receptive to her parents’ guidance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Editor’s Note: Content taken from “6 Unpopular Truths Daughters Need to Learn from Their Fathers” by Brent Rinehart. You can read that piece in full here. All rights reserved. 

www.crosswalk.com

I wrote this prayer with thoughts of our precious daughters. How they are to endure the tough responsibilities as women. And, as children, how we are to mold them through the hands of our Lord Jesus, to be  great women of God.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the beautiful gift of our children, and especially our daughter(s) and granddaughter(s). They are so beautiful and bright, so precious in our lives, and wonderful in Your sight.

Psalm 22:10 From birth I was cast upon you, from my mother’s womb You have been my God.

Psalm 139 : 13-14 For You created my inmost being, You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Your works are wonderful,  I know that full well.

Praying to be great parents

Father, we pray and ask that we be great parents to help them. Guide our steps so we can parent them with courage, grace, wisdom, and selfless love.

Above all, help us to guide and build in them a great love for You, their God that they would abide by Your Holy Word.

Help us rejoice in the woman they’re becoming and trust Your vision for them.

Numbers 6: 24 – 26 The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Offering up my daughter (and granddaughter) to the Lord

Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Your blessed name, Lord and offer up our precious daughter(s) and granddaughter(s). As they light up the universe, may they radiate You in everything they become, far and wide over the world.

Lord, we ask You to fill them with Your love, so deep that they crave for the comfort of the presence of the Holy Spirit, over fame and attention of the world.

May they revere You, follow Your guide and Your commandments. May they set the principles of the word of God in their hearts and minds, and fear God in all things.

Blessing my daughter in her studies

As they go through school and their academic achievements, be present daily Lord Jesus, in their hearts and guide their mind.

Help them focus on their studies and let go of all other influences that lead them towards the ways of the world.

May they, in every way, take their academic achievements seriously and be good and useful daughters towards home, society and country.

As they go through school, be present daily Lord Jesus, in their hearts and guide their mind. Click To Tweet

Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Protect my daughter from the flesh

Help them, Lord Jesus, in an ever-changing world. This world is so filled with all kinds of dangers and impurities, lust and lewdness of flesh.

In their growing age, help them to respect their own bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Help them to recognize the voice of evil and conquer it with strength, courage, truth and obedience to You, Lord, and us as their loved ones.

Surround them with godly friends. When they are weak, let their friends be strong and build them up.

Protect them with Your angels, safeguard them and help them discern right from wrong, good versus evil. Let them stand on Your spiritual shoulders and bravely serve Your purpose in all their endeavors.

Protect my daughters with Your angels, safeguard them and help them discern right from wrong. Click To Tweet

Give my daughter strength to withstand

Lord Jesus, in their growing needs in academics, career, dating, relationships, and other matters, make Your plan apparent to them.

Give them a tender heart and a thick skin to withstand and stay resilient to the world’s negativity, criticism, and judgement, yet never lose their love and hope for mankind.

Help them hear and heed Your call for them. Fill them with Your wisdom, truth, and light so their choices honor You, Lord.

If there comes a time they mess up, when they fall, when they feel helpless or discouraged, restore them with Your grace.

Let Your presence, Lord Jesus, be unmistakable. Help them embrace their weaknesses as opportunities for You to shine and bring You glory and praise.

Jeremiah 31: 3 I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with loving kindness. 

Bless our relationship with them

Lord, we love You above all. Thank You for Your everlasting love. We love our daughter(s), granddaughter(s) with all our hearts, mind, and soul, with an everlasting love too. We would lay down our lives for them anytime, anyplace.

Please bless our relationship and keep our connection strong.

One day, when we’re past the trials of childhood, adolescence and adulthood, we pray that we’ll joyfully call ourselves the best of friends.

We pray we raise daughter(s) to bring glory to God, in Your blessed name, Lord Jesus, Amen!

christianstt.com

A Prayer for My Daughter

by William Butler Yeats

Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But Gregory’s wood and one bare hill
Whereby the haystack- and roof-leveling wind.
Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed;
And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
In the elms above the flooded stream;
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.

May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger’s eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend.

Helen being chosen found life flat and dull
And later had much trouble from a fool,
While that great Queen, that rose out of the spray,
Being fatherless could have her way
Yet chose a bandy-legged smith for man.
It’s certain that fine women eat
A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.

In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.

May she become a flourishing hidden tree
That all her thoughts may like the linnet be,
And have no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound,
Nor but in merriment begin a chase,
Nor but in merriment a quarrel.
O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place.

My mind, because the minds that I have loved,
The sort of beauty that I have approved,
Prosper but little, has dried up of late,
Yet knows that to be choked with hate
May well be of all evil chances chief.
If there’s no hatred in a mind
Assault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.

An intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her think opinions are accursed.
Have I not seen the loveliest woman born
Out of the mouth of Plenty’s horn,
Because of her opinionated mind
Barter that horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?

Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweet will is Heaven’s will;
She can, though every face should scowl
And every windy quarter howl
Or every bellows burst, be happy still.

And may her bridegroom bring her to a house
Where all’s accustomed, ceremonious;
For arrogance and hatred are the wares
Peddled in the thoroughfares.
How but in custom and in ceremony
Are innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony’s a name for the rich horn,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

Literary Analysis

“A Prayer for My Daughter” is a reflection of the poet’s love for his daughter. It is also about surviving the turmoil of the contemporary world, where passions have been separated from reason. The setting of the poem is unspecified. The speaker is the poet himself talking to his daughter. The tone is gloomy, precarious, and frightening, as well as didactic.

The poem opens with a description of the speaker praying for his innocent infant daughter, Anne, lying in the middle of a storm “howling, and half hid.” The poet demonstrates his feelings through the use of symbols of weather. The newborn baby girl is sleeping “Under this cradle-hood and coverlid,” implying the innocence and vulnerability of Anne. Though the external world is violent, she is protected from it. The storm is a metaphor for the Irish people’s struggle for their independence, which was an uncertain political situation in Yeats’s day. He further presents the situation of the storm with “roof-leveling wind”, representing turbulence, in the midst of which the poet has “walked and prayed for this young child an hour.” Intense and threatening forces surround her like a “flooded stream.” The poet symbolizes the sea thus: “Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.” Despite his apprehensions for his child in this turbulent world, he is hopeful for her.

The poet continues on to comment on his hopes for her beauty:“May she be granted beauty and yet not.” His vacillation is that beauty in women sometimes brings disasters. For example, some such people have a difficult time choosing the right person as a life partner, and neither they can “find a friend.” The speaker lays emphasis on the need for feminine innocence. The poet advances his argument in the next stanzas by citing examples of beautiful women such as Helen of Troy, whose beauty was said to be the cause of the Trojan War. By the end, the poet wants his daughter to be courteous, as love cannot come unconditionally and freely. She must earn love with good efforts and kind-heartedness, and she cannot win it by merely physical beauty because “Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned.” Summing up his theme, the poet wishes his daughter to possess such qualities that could help her face the future years confidently and independently.

Structural Analysis

The poem is written in a lyric form containing ten stanzas with eight lines in each stanza. The poem follows a regular rhyme scheme, which is AABBCDDC as shown below:

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour  A
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,          A
And-under the arches of the bridge, and scream          B
In the elms above the flooded stream;                         B
Imagining in excited reverie                                        C
That the future years had come,                                  D
Dancing to a frenzied drum,                                        D
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.                C

The meter of this poem alternates between iambic pentameter and trochaic pentameter, as in “I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour / And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower.” The poem is rich in literary devices such as symbolism, personification, paradox, sibilance, assonance, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. The line “murderous innocence of the sea” is an example of paradox. Sibilance is found in the words “sea-wind scream,” while “scream” is also an example of an onomatopoeia. The use of personification can be noted in the lines “future years … dancing”, which implies the transience of life. The poet uses symbols such as “sea wind” and “flooded stream” which denote turbulent forces at work. Alliteration is present in the phrase “be granted beauty.”

Guidance for Usage of Quotes

The poem is concerned with the chaotic modern world. It shows a father consumed with apprehension for his daughter’s future in an uncertain political situation. The father is tense about how he can possibly protect his daughter from the raging storm outside, because she is very beautiful. Therefore, he prays for her as well as gives advice about how to live successfully on earth. Similarly, modern-day fathers can send quotes from this poem to their daughters as a piece of advice for special occasions:

“In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.”

literarydevices.net