November 20, 2011
Dear Emily,
Today, an exceptionally special event occurred in your young life. You were given infant baptism. Infant baptism is a ceremony in which your parents and your church family recognize that God is active in your life even though you are not yet aware of Him. As your parents held you in front of the altar, the pastor asked them and your church family to commit to support you as your grow in your faith. Hopefully, someday you will make the choice yourself to commit your life to serving God and His church, but you will not be baptized again. That special event takes place only once in your life.
For your baptism, you wore a pink dress, pink tights, pink shoes, and you had a pretty pink bow in your hair. You looked beautiful! Your daddy held you in your favorite position, facing frontward sitting on his arm. When Pastor Steve put the baptismal water on your head, you hardly reacted.
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| Emily and Pastor Steve |
I wanted a red rose for your baptism. When your daddy was baptized, your great-grandmother placed a red rose on the altar for the minister to use in the ceremony. I still have it pressed in the family Bible. On Saturday, I looked all over Lewisburg for a single rose…no luck. The flower shops were closed so I went to the cut flower cooler at Kroger. Evidently, November is not the time of the year to purchase a single rose, but I promise that someday you will have that red rose.
Baptismal water and roses are only symbols. The water symbolizes the Holy Spirit at work in your life while the red rose is a symbol of love. Had there not been any water and even without the rose, the significance of the ceremony is still unmistakable: God is caring for you and guiding your parents as they teach you about Him. God loves you very much, Emily. You are a child of God!
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| Emily and Parents |
