LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER 4

Dear Daughter,

It's been a rainy week all week. My car has been at the mechanic, and due to some health challenges, I've taken some days off work. What should occupy the mind of a father at a time like this? I'm thinking about you, yes, precious YOU.

What's this year been like for you? This very 2020 of unpredictable and challenging circumstances. I have been praying for you and I hope you have coped well. 

Just a few days ago I was told a story, how one of your seniors in school, just barely turning 20 during this lockdown, has taken to smoking marihuana for recreation. She reportedly has grown the habit so well, that she decided to bring a wrap of weed to enjoy in the living room while her mum was there watching TV. The poor woman fainted and as at the time I was being told the story a few days later, she was still in hospital recovering from the shock. 

Dear daughter, I may not have specifically appreciated you for this before, but I do now. You have never yet yielded to peer pressures to go on drugs.

 I know the temptations have been there, but you have kept in mind my admonitions that you should always seek your joy and happiness from the Lord’s presence, as the scriptures say: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalms 16:11 (KJV)

You see, the highs that come from drugs and alcohol are very temporary, and they always leave a void in you that demands more indulgence. 

The results are that addictions easily form, and these addictions of youth become the disrupters of latter life: of health, family and productivity. I have taught you to value your future goals above present gains, to protect your mind from anything that’ll mess it up. 

What little prestige you lose now for not following after the riotous behavioral patterns of your peers, you’ll gain back in a very short time as your achievements outpace theirs. Then they’ll all be looking up to you for inspiration and guidance. That’s the cool part.

I have also noticed the damaging effect that shows like BBN are having on your generation my dear daughter. 

To make matters worse this time around, the show is taking place while all your schools are on lockdown and you’re all having to deal with your boredom, so I’m sure the rate of followership for that program is definitely higher this year than other years. 

Let me be direct with you my dear, trust me on this one, the organizers and sponsors of programs like BBN do not mean you or your generation well. Their aim is to corrupt your minds by cheapening sex and your sexuality to the point where you all begin to live without boundaries. It is very subtle deception, and very entrapping.

Dear daughter, never forget:

1)Your body is the temple of God and must never be used anyhow.

Sex is sacred and private and must never be thrown around anyhow, especially not on national television.

2)Love is a precious gift from God, and must never be confused with sex. Most girls who cheapen sex find themselves where they cannot even again identify true love when they see it.

3)Money must never become so much more important to you than your self-esteem that you should be ready to do anything to get it. 

The means of getting money should always be as important to you as the end. This is what builds true character in you.

So, please do not allow yourself to be carried away by the hype. Do not indulge in these shows that only corrupt your mind and cheapen your femininity. Value your dignity, your space, your body, your intellect.

At eighteen, you may be feeling like a really big girl now. Yes you are! But I’ve always told you, that your worth is far more than your pretty face and nice figure. 

You’re worth more than your sex appeal. You are human. The best part of human. The female human. You are actually the best thing God ever made. He made you last for that purpose. You have capacity to achieve any result you set your mind upon.

You are as capable of academic achievements, career achievements, and financial achievements as any guy out there, so do not let anyone reduce you to just a sex object. Set your sights on great results in the years to come, and always make me proud.

And don’t forget, it is my prayer that one day you will find true love, or that true love will find you. And when that day comes, may you be clear minded enough to be able to tell the good guy from the bad guy.

May you be able to differentiate between the guy with the right swag and the one with the right heart; may God bless you with a guy that loves Him even more than he loves you, for that is the kind of guy with whom your precious heart will be safe, and your future secured.

I love you dear daughter, and I look forward to when you will be with me physically again. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

From your daddy of life

Victor Atokolo.