This morning, as I awoke, Jessica was on my mind.  You see, today she is being baptized.

Jessica is a typical teenager.  She is fun and giggly.  She loves to run on the beach, collect shells, and build sand castles.  She loves her animals.  Her room has an eclectic collection of pictures, posters, and special objects.

Yet she is a very quiet, sensitive young lady.  She reads, writes creatively, thinks deeply, and takes her time making decisions.  She is focused and responsible, taking Advanced Placement classes at her high school. She discusses things with her mother, an admirable trait today.

Just this month Jessica celebrated her “sweet 16^th” birthday.  She is at that exciting time in her life when she takes on the very adult responsibility of driving a car.  It is a birth, of sorts, because it is the beginning of a new way of life.

This month, also, she is celebrating a more important and meaningful milestone.  She is being baptized today.  I know she has given this much thought, because that is her nature.  She will be washed in the water and the Word.  Her baptism is a birth, as well.  It is a birth into Jesus.

Baptism as a young person is a choice that is made with thoughtfulness and prayer.  It is a choice made after much talking with Jesus.  That alone is the beginning of a new way of life.  It is the beginning of a personal relationship with our Lord.  How wonderful that we can talk to Jesus any time of the day or night, and He will hear us!

God’s richest blessings to you, Jessica, on your baptism day!

Just the other day I received an email from a friend who asked, “Can you believe it is already 2010?”  That is the kind of question we ask each other every year when January rolls around.

Well, this year, I really can’t believe another year has begun.  It is January, but I’ve been out of sync since September!  My father had a stroke and my husband and I moved temporarily to be nearer to him.  We have only just recently moved back home and are getting our life back in order. 

These last months, although stressful, have been full of blessings.  At every step along the way toward his recovery, we have said, “Thank you, Lord.”

One of the first things we did with Dad was to sing “Jesus loves me.”  Even though his speech was severely affected, he mouthed the words as he sang with us.  This was a statement of his faith in his loving Lord and his confidence that He would be with Dad in his recovery. 

The twenty-third Psalm says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:  for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”  Those are powerful and comforting words, indeed!  The important key word in this passage is the preposition through.  That’s through not in.  Meaning we don’t stay there in the valley.  There is the other side. 

So, Dad has walked through the valley and is coming out on the other side, with his speech and mobility improving every day.  Our family, though temporarily derailed during the last months of 2009, looks forward with eagerness to continue to sing God’s praises in the New Year 2010.

After a while, flags begin to look tattered and worn, and are in need of replacement.  Such is the case at our church.  This weekend we dedicated three new flags that will fly out in front of our church as symbols of what is important to us.

The first flag is the Christian Flag.  It stands for the true foundation of our whole life, both here on earth and in the hereafter.  It represents Jesus Christ’s victories over sin, death, and the devil.  Those victories obtained for us the forgiveness of sins and salvation and gave us new life in Christ and membership in the eternal kingdom of God.  These blessings are now given to us because of Him and through our faith in Him.

The second flag is the State Flag.  It reminds us that we have been called to faith and planted here where we live.  Daily we enjoy all the blessings of family, friends, neighbors, community, and vocation freely given to us through God’s hand that we must willingly, wisely, and lovingly steward.

The third flag is the National Flag.  It represents that union of fifty states which enables us to maintain our national, social, cultural, and religious freedom from tyranny or oppression.  That freedom allows us to do the very things, without compulsion or negative consequence, that permits us to fly our flags in the first place.

After each flag was dedicated with a prayer, we sang the Doxology.  “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”  The biggest blessing is that we are able to enjoy our religious freedom while being grateful that we live in our beautiful state and our wonderful country.  Our flags will fly bearing witness to this!  Praise God!

This post is actually a “postscript” to a previous posting titled “Thou Shalt Not Steal“. I hope you take the time to read it for its food for thought, but I will quickly summarize the events that prompted the original post, so I can share the update with you.

• My husband was unaware that he had dropped his wallet while at a store
• When he returned home, he realized that he did not have his wallet
• He returned to the store
• He and the clerk were looking for it
• Meanwhile, a woman stepped on his wallet in the parking lot and came into the store with it
• My husband opened his wallet to offer her a cash “thank you”
• She declined saying to give it to someone who needed it
• My husband gave the cash to our pastor telling him to use it as he saw fit to pass it along to someone in need

And so, this is where the postscript or update begins.

Once you pass something along to someone, you no longer have any control of it. It is out of your hands, and you may never hear what happens to it. Such is what we thought of the “thank you” that was passed along to our pastor to pass along to someone else.

The other day, as I was talking with our pastor, he told me that the envelope with the cash in it had sat on his desk for these many weeks. He had wondered what he would do with it, who might need it. This week he finally got his answer. As he said, the need presented itself. As it turned out, someone was dealing with a family life situation, and he felt that this person/family could use a little assistance.

While my husband didn’t expect to hear about what Pastor did with the “thank you cash”, it does feel good to know that someone was able to benefit from it. And once again, we are thankful that a lady in the parking lot did the right thing. It would be nice if we could tell her, but I’d like to think that she knows that both my husband and pastor also did the right thing by passing it along for someone in need.

This week I was looking in my drawers for something and I came across my christening outfit. My mother had given it to me last Fall when Mom and Dad sold their home and were downsizing and therefore getting rid of things. She couldn’t part with it, so after all these many years she passed its safe-keeping onto me. At the time, I put it in a drawer, and haven’t looked at it since.

Today, I took time again to look at it. The original box, labeled “Pat’s Baby Christening Outfit”, contained my christening gown and slip, booties, sweater, cap, mittens, and blanket, all carefully washed, ironed and lovingly wrapped in tissue paper.

Mom was 85 and I was 61 at the time she gave it to me. I mention this because it carries meaning to both mother and child. It was the baptism outfit I wore on the day that I was baptized “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” and became a child of God. I never had children of my own, but if I had had a little girl, it would have been nice to have her wear the same outfit.

Some things are just special like that, and are often passed from one generation to the next. Baptism and Christening Gifts offers Keepsake Baby Prayer Blanket Gift Sets for baby dedication, baptism, and christening. The soft, fluffy white blanket is wrapped with seven inspired prayers for your precious little baby along with a gift box for safe-keeping so your baby can pass it along to their baby.

What a blessing to be able to look at something that was so lovingly kept for so many years. It is a tangible article that provides a look at the grace of God both forward and backward through time.

Baptism and Christening Gifts has truly joined the 21st Century.  We now have our own internet commercial that we would like to share with you.

Visit our website for Christ centered gifts honoring the day of dedication, baptism and christening! We feature inspirational gifts of art for your Christian home decor that will be treasured from one generation to the next.

This past weekend was a perfect day to work in the garden.  It was in the low 70s.  Sunny and warm, but not too warm.  Cool, but not too cool.  Perfect for working outdoors.

Our four year old neighbor girl came running over to “help” me.  As we were bent over to put in some new plants, she observed, “What a beautiful day!”  She was absolutely right.  It was a gorgeous day.  The day itself was wonderful, but it was all the more so, because we were enjoying working together.

Upon further reflection, I am reminded of the scripture verse that says “This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24

We all too often just take each day as it comes along, without taking the time to appreciate it.  Our sweet little girl next door was a great reminder to rejoice in the blessing of the gift of a beautiful day.  I thank and praise the Lord for it… and for her.

Last week was Pentecost Sunday.

The word Pentecost means the fiftieth day.  Websters Dictionary defines Pentecost as a Christian festival commemorating on the seventh Sunday after Easter the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles.

Since the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles on Pentecost, it is the day that our Lutheran church observes confirmation.  Our young people take their confirmation vows, confirming their baptismal vows, and become communicant members of the congregation.

Because confirmation day is such an important and significant day, families gather together in celebration and gifts are given.   A well chosen confirmation gift of Christian home decor emphasizes the importance of the day and has lasting meaning throughout the years.

I still have my Christian art given to me for my confirmation 50 years ago!

Each year at Memorial Day our former minister, who was a military man, pulled out all the stops, so to speak, and created his sermon around the importance of the day and chose all of the patriotic hymns.  I kind of missed that.

This year, our new minister preached a traditional sermon telling us that as Christians, we are in this world, but not of this world.  After the service, however, we all met outside around the flag pole to sing America the Beautiful and God Bless Our Native Land as well as offer a prayer for our service men and women, both past and present, and ask for peace and mercy for our world.  I like this as a new tradition.

So… we are not of this world, but being in this world, we certainly do celebrate this Memorial Day as a day to remember our heroes and loved ones who are walking with Jesus and keep in mind all the sacrifices made for our country. 

God bless our native land;

Firm may it ever stand

Through storm and night.

When the wild tempests rave,

Ruler of wind and wave,

Do thou our country save

By thy great might.

Yesterday, my husband and I attended a wedding.  Since the wedding was the day before Mother’s Day, there was a slide show featuring the two mothers.  There was all manner of photos from the mothers’ own weddings, pregnancy photos, mothers holding their little babies, grandmothers holding their precious little grandchildren, and all kinds of interaction between mothers, grandmothers, and the children at all different ages.  The tribute to the mothers and grandmothers brought a tear to my eye, because you could just see and feel the love in those long ago photos.

Love, tenderness, caring, protection, sacrifice… all these emotions and more showed in the faces of those photos.  Such is the face of a mother’s love.

Consider how much more our Lord Jesus loves us.  As the song says, He “loves the little children”.  What mother wouldn’t be thrilled to tell her child that every day using a beautiful work of Christian home decor in Baby’s room, featuring an infant in Jesus’ arms, as a visual reminder!  This would make a lovely gift for a baby dedication, baptism, or christening.

Now it’s time to look at some family photos and call my mother and thank her for her love.  More importantly, I will thank her for bringing me up in the church, and singing to me of God’s love as she rocked me in the rocking chair.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!  I love you!