Dear Jae,

I haven’t met you yet but your daddy and I are counting down the days until we do. While we’re counting down, I’ve been thinking of some things I want you to know. Some things my generation didn’t quite grow up with at a young age, but now your generation is consumed with.

In our world now you can get everything in an instant and with the click of a button. There isn’t much you have to wait for. You can get packages delivered to you in under an hour, email responses in minutes and satisfaction in the form of  “likes” with in seconds. Some of these things aren’t bad. Some can be very helpful. Others, can be very damaging.

Let’s talk about these instant “likes”. Once again a “like”‘isn’t a bad thing. That little red heart (or blue thumbs up) can truly mean someone thinks your post or picture is nice. But our world has made that little red heart an unhealthy obsession of worldly satisfaction. It has made us think that if we get more likes we have more value. The more likes, the better we are, the more likes, the prettier we are, the more likes, the more we are worth to others. A lot of the time those “likes” are really fun to get because you know people are enjoying what you’re posting. But sometimes we don’t get those “likes”. Then what happens? We begin to believe the lie that we don’t have worth, that were not good enough, not pretty enough or not talented enough. You start to pick yourself apart because of the lies of social media. This is not what God has intended.

You see, there is only one person who is fully obsessed with your heart. That is the one who created you in His image. Who created you fearfully and wonderfully. He created you with value, beauty and talent that is all your own, simply because you were created in His image. You have worth completely outside of any worldly social media. No little red heart can give you the same satisfaction as the one who created your heart.

1 Peter 3:3-4 says “it is not fancy hair, gold jewelry, or fine clothes that should make you beautiful. No, your beauty should come from inside you- the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. That beauty will never disappear, and it is worth very much to God.” Your worth is not based on how many likes you have. It’s not based on the clothes you wear, the hair color you have, your skin color or your body type. Your worth is not based on if you get 1 like or 100 likes. You simply have worth because you were created in His image, by Him and for Him.

I pray that you learn 1 Peter 2:3-4 at a young age and understand that the opinions of others is not what makes you valuable or beautiful. We have this verse hanging in your nursery so you are reminded of its truth daily. What makes you beautiful is God’s light living inside of you! You are a child of God with so much worth!

We love you already.