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!

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.

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!

My father always told me to look up the meaning of a word, and I found it fascinating to find out where that word came from.  With that in mind, I looked up the word baptize.  Webster’s Dictionary says that it comes from the Latin word baptizare and the Greek word baptizein both of which mean to dip in water.  Reading further in Webster’s the definition is 1. to dip or immerse in water, or to pour or sprinkle water upon, as a religious rite; to administer baptism to  2. to cleanse, purify, initiate, etc.  3. to give a name to at baptism; to christen.

Whether your church baptizes by immersion or by sprinkling, or whether a name is given or not, the day you or your children are baptized is a special day.  Remember that blessed day of baptism or christening with a gift of Christian art  for home decor that will be treasured long after the day.

Webster’s Dictionary defines baptism as: 1. Act or ceremony of baptizing, a sacrament by whose reception one becomes a Christian or a member of a Christian church.  2. Any act or experience that, like baptism, purifies, initiates, etc.

The act or ceremony of baptizing is anticipated by parents, grandparents, godparents, and the congregation to which the member is received.  They look forward to the act or ceremony itself, but also look for a way to commemorate that act with a special gift.  A baptism gift of Christian art  for home decor in Baby’s room makes a meaningful gift that will be appreciated throughout the rest of their life.

This morning in church the pastor mentioned in part of his sermon that the sacraments are a means by which God comes to us.  We, as parents and godparents, bring our children to God, but, more importantly, through the sacrament of holy baptism, God comes to our children.  What a wonderful blessing that is!

Acknowledge that blessing with an infant baptism gift of Christian framed art that will have special meaning throughout your child’s life.  It is Christian home decor that will serve as a daily reminder that God loves them and has come to them.