Daddy’s Girl

"Mom, who do I look like?" asked Avia while her mother braided her hair."Who do you look like?" repeated Mom. "Well, let's see." Mom gently tugged on Avia's hair. "Duck," she said."I look like a duck?" Avia laughed, knowing Mom meant for her to tip her head so she could braid the hair at the bottom of her neck.Mom laughed too, then took a long look at both their faces in the mirror. "Actually, that's an easy question. You look more like your father--more so every day." Avia's father had died when she was very small. "You remind me of your dad so much. You not only resemble him in appearance; you act like him too. You eat just as fast as he did," Mom teased as they walked to the kitchen to fix breakfast."Isn't it weird that I hardly knew Dad, but now I look like him and act like him?" Avia asked as she set the table. "You always say I like the same foods he did--asparagus and beets and even sandwiches with pickles and peanut butter on them! I wonder how come I'm so much like him when he's not here for me to copy?""I believe you do those things naturally because Dad is a part of you. He's passed on some of his characteristics to you--like similar taste buds," said Mom as she poured apple juice. "You also act like him in other ways because you've heard stories about him and have started doing some of the same things he used to do--like seeing how many old cars you can spot on a road trip." She smiled at Avia. "It's kind of like what happens when someone becomes a child of God.""You mean because He's our heavenly Father, but we don't see Him--just like I don't see Dad?" asked Avia.Mom nodded. "We don't see God, but we act like Him because the Holy Spirit--who is God--lives in us. We read about God in the Bible and see glimpses of Him in the lives of other Christians. And we talk about what He does in our lives." Mom squeezed Avia's hand. "With God's help, we become more and more like our heavenly Father every day!" -Dawn E. Maloney