You are loved. You are safe. You are beautiful.

For the past 4 months I have been sending out emails about men, manhood, and God’s call for us to be what he has asked us to be. So yes, we talk a lot about men here- how to be a better one and how to build future ones.

But we leave just as big, if not bigger impacts on the females in our lives. With Mother’s Day around the corner, it’s worth asking—what do the women around us most deeply need from us?

In her book Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, pediatrician Meg Meeker argues that women need three foundational things (obviously written about daughters but research shows this is true across a lifetime):

• Unconditional love

• Security/protection

• Affirmation of their beauty and worth

While the research she presents in the book is solid, Scripture lays these same principles out for us as well.

1 Corinthians 13:7 defines love: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Proverbs 14:26 shows us protection: “In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.” Psalm 139:14 grounds worth: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Proverbs 31:28–29 models affirmation: “Her children rise up and call her blessed… Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”

I first read this book when my oldest daughter was born. Now, with two daughters, I can see how deeply these truths have shaped the way I lead them—what I say, how I discipline, and how I answer their questions.

Before I leave the room each night for bedtime (and sometimes random other times), I tell them “You are loved. You are safe. And you are beautiful.” Each time- even when they were two years old- I can see it in their glowing smile. Those words land somewhere deep, touching something God wired into them.

This need and gift from the man in their life doesn’t disappear as they age.

The women in your life—your wife, your mom, your daughters—they still carry that same God-given need: To be loved. To feel safe. To be reminded of their worth.

And whether you realize it or not, your words, your presence, and your consistency are shaping that. If you aren’t the leading voice of truth in her life, someone or something else is.

Originally published at warren.church.