Powerful Way to Protect Your Daughter’s Purity

3 mins 47 secs

Dad, if you won’t make the effort to value your daughter’s purity, don’t expect her to!

Genevieve turned 15 in November. She is blossoming into a beautiful young lady. She’s been waiting for a date and … a ring.

In our family, when a daughter turns 15, I take her for a very special date – just the two of us. She dresses her prettiest. Her sisters gather around to do her hair. I put on my best suit and cologne, and we head for fine dining.

Last night, it was the Eagle’s Nest atop the twenty-story Hyatt overlooking downtown Indianapolis. The 360 degree restaurant slowly rotates so that you see the city lights in all directions – stunning!

After dinner, we rode the glass elevator down to the 17th floor and found a private hallway with a picture window overlooking the city.

I dropped to one knee and looked into her blues eyes:

“Genevieve, please accept this ring as a commitment to purity and a sign of my love and fidelity to protect you, even with my very life, until the day I give your hand in marriage to a worthy man or to religious life.”

This dad started to choke up.

She said yes and loved the ring.

3 Takeaways:

1) Highly Valued

Standing on the heights of the Hyatt speaks of the loftiness of her dignity and purity. This ritual communicates clearly that my daughter is loved and highly valued.

The ring design and stone were carefully chosen after hours of searching mainly by my wife with input from my older daughter and myself. We wanted something beautiful that would delight her because her purity is beautiful and delightful. By the way, women love looking for beautiful jewelry. 🙂

She had to wait for the date, the fine meal, and the ring, because purity and self-sacrificial love are worth waiting for.

2) Dad’s Influence

God didn’t just give dads authority over their kids, He gave them influence, deeply impactful influence, to go along with that authority. We all know there is something different about dad’s affirmation, his attention – whether it be wielded for good or bad.

The fact that I, as Genevieve’s dad, dined and dignified her as my precious daughter permeates her heart like no other man can do.

A father is a daughter’s first love. If he loves her well, he prepares her heart to receive both the love of God the Father and of another man. If he doesn’t, he damages her heart with a wound that is difficult to ever heal.

3) Outward Sign

Genevieve’s ring is a tangible, outward sign of her commitment to purity and my commitment to her. She has to take care of the ring and the commitment. It is a constant reminder.

God enfleshed us and knows that we need signs. As Catholics, He gives us the Sacraments as outward signs which make an invisible reality visible. Giving your daughter a purity ring makes visible the beauty and fragility of purity.

Have the purity ring blessed. It then becomes a sacramental, which is something that disposes her to grace – makes her more receptive to God’s help!

Bonus

We bought Genevieve’s ring on Etsy. It was sent from India and arrived later than we expected. That later arrival happened to push our date to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. What a meaningful feast on which to receive a purity ring!

For those who might not know, the Immaculate Conception celebrates Mary being conceived without original sin in the womb of her mother, St Anne. As an immaculate human being, Mary was then able to conceive the all-pure Son of God in her own womb.

I can’t recommend highly enough consecrating your family to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Also, entrust your children to St Anne. God entrusted his precious daughter Mary to her.

Bonus II

Dinner and a purity ring at 15 better not be a one-off. There has to be far more courting of your daughter’s heart regularly. Frankly, by age 15, you should almost be on a victory lap together. A lot of her sense of self-worth has already been put in place. If this isn’t the case for you, consider this your wake-up call and get on it! You still have influence.

Years ago a friend encouraged me to take my daughters to his parish’s Daddy Daughter dance. We have done some version of that yearly ever since.

I end where I began:

Dad, if you won’t make the effort to value your daughter’s purity, don’t expect her to!

 

 

(Daddy-Daughter dance 10 years ago. Genevieve is on the bottom right)