Review: Tim McGraw's "My Little Girl"

Just an fyi. You may see some reviews of children's books on the old blog, because I signed up to do some book reviewing for Thomas Nelson books. I don't have time to read long books at the moment, but kid's books I can do!

So, that being said, this (My Little Girl) was a really very sweet book that draws out how to delight in the good days and the relationships God gives us. Most of the weight in this book is given to the relationship between a father and daughter. The father tells his little girl on the eve of a day they will spend together that, “Tomorrow they would have a spectacular day.” This sprang the little girl’s mind out of the blocks dreaming up what might be coming the next day. As she is all excited he comes to the foot of the stairs and says they will be doing, “nothing in particular.” This bummed Katie out. She soon learns that the day is a one full of time spent enjoying the relationship she has with her dad. It may be a bit optimistic in the fact that there are no temper tantrums throughout the day, but it is a really a cute little book that hopefully won’t give little girls a false hope that their daddies might give them this kind of attention. Hopefully as fathers read this with their little girls it will encourage them to take a day here and there to spend time with their little girls. One theological thing to note, the way this little girl loves her daddy is an example of how we too often love our God. He plans good things for those that love Him, despite their expectations. Too many times when things go differently than we plan or expect we are disappointed. We should trust that if we are in Christ (that is, if we repent of our sins and believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead for our justification and to vindicate His claims) God's plan to dwell with us now and for all eternity in the future is the source of true joy, even now. Even though the book is a bit utopian, if you are looking for a children’s book to give you the motivation to model God's fatherly love to your little girl, you may find this book to be a good encouragement.

God's Happiness

I'm sure this has been quoted a million times all over the internet, but this is the first time I've read it. This is the first paragraph in Jonathan Edwards' "Discourse on the Trinity":

When we speak of God's happiness, the account that we are wont to give of it is that God is infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, in perfectly beholding and infinitely loving, and rejoicing in, his own essence and perfections. And accordingly it must be supposed that God perpetually and eternally has a most perfect idea of himself, as it were an exact image and representation of himself ever before him and in actual view. And from hence arises a most pure and perfect energy in the God-head, which is the divine love, complacence and joy.

Edwards, Jonathan The Works of Jonathan Edwards Vol. 21: Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith ed. Sang Hyun Lee (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 113.