I have conversations with my 12 year old that I'm sure most dads don't have with theirs.

Abigail, my 12 year old, tells me almost everything. I feel blessed about that, too. I'm sure one day, she will probably keep certain things to herself, but right now, she tells me every little tidbit - from her homework to her circle of friends and even her girly stuff. I love it all.

Right now, she's a daddy's girl and I'm very happy. It hasn't been easy on her, I'm sure, being a kid in a divorced family, but she's amazingly resilient.

Last night, she opened up to me about one of her friends at school she was having problems with. Her friend "Talia" and her had made several "deals" over the past few weeks. Abigail and Talia had agreed to swap items on several occasions. Abigail had kept up her end of the bargain, but Talia had not. I walked into Abigail's room and she was feverishly texting Talia about keeping up her end of the bargain. She was on the verge of tears.

"What's going on, sweetheart?" I asked.

"I gave Talia a little ring I had and she was supposed to swap me for a bracelet she owned. She never gave it to me. It's been over a week and she keeps putting me off. It's not the first time either," Abigail explained as she texted.

I know Talia pretty well. She's had some rough life issues over the past couple of years and she and and Abigail have become close. Abigail has been good for her and Talia has been good for Abigail.

"Why do you think that is?" I asked Abigail.

Abigail sent the text to Talia explaining that she expected Talia to give her the bracelet soon. "I don't know, Daddy. It makes me feel bad. It makes me feel like she's using me."

I sat next to Abigail on her bed, struggling for the right words to say, as parents often do. "That may be the case sweetheart, from the way you see it. She's done it more than once, right?"

She started crying some. "Yes, it's so frustrating. She's taken things of mine but never held up her end of the bargain. I try to be so nice to her."

"Abigail, it's possible that Talia doesn't know that she's using you. She may be doing this and not be aware that it's a problem for her. She may not know how bad it hurts you."

"How can she not know? It does hurt!" Abigail said hugging me.

<a href="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/daddau.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1654" src="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/daddau-300x205.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="205" /></a>"Sweetie, all of us have things we do that we may not know irritate other people. It's strange. We all have behaviors that bother people and until we get called out on it, we aren't aware."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, I'm really sarcastic sometimes and I'm not aware of it. Some people think I'm being mean, but it's just my personality. Until someone says something I don't even know I'm doing it," I said.

"Oh, yeah," Abigail said. "That's for sure."

"You know what though?" I said. "Talia is a good friend isn't she?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Jesus loves us despite our problems. He looks at us, despite our faults and loves us completely. Good friends are hard to find. The best thing you can do is to love your friend despite her fault."

"But Daddy, that's hard to do," Abigail said. "I really just want to go to school tomorrow and be mad at her. I want to ignore her and not talk to her. Do you know what that's like?"

"Oh boy, do I," I said. I thought for a moment. A long moment. "That bracelet that Talia has, how much is it?"

"Oh, it's $15," she said.

My mind went to my checkbook for a moment. This economy stinks. For everyone. Times are tough for me like they're tough for everyone. But just as soon as my mind went to my checkbook, it went to Matthew 5 - "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." I went to my drawer to my emergency cash. And there wasn't much there. I took out a $20 bill and gave it to Abigail.

I said, "Listen, this is for you to buy one of those bracelets. Talia is a great friend. And part of being a friend is looking past their faults. Maybe being a friend to Talia is that you shouldn't make deals with her anymore. Tomorrow, when you go to school, make it a new day. Don't worry about the deals you've made in the past. Just be her friend, okay?"

The tears had stopped. Not because she had become $20 richer, but because she didn't have to worry about the burden of the bracelet anymore.

"Oh, Daddy, thank you," she said as she hugged me. "You're right. She is my friend. We all have things we do that we need to look over. I won't make deals with her anymore. I'm not even going to mention anything about it to her again."

I hugged her back, "That's what daddies do. They fix things."

And that's what Jesus does. He fixes us, looks past our faults, loves us for who we are, removes the barriers and takes away the pain.