A Baptismal Prayer

Sarah will be baptized in a service tonight at West Side. I wrote the following prayer in my journal this morning.

Precious Lord, you are so abundantly good to us! Today is Sarah’s baptism and we have looked forward to this day and planned for this day and rejoice in this day. And we give you thanks for those who rejoice with us!

We thank you so much for bringing Sarah into our lives. She is such a blessing. I love her high pitched squeals that are deafening. I love her smile. I love her little pointing gesture that she makes when she sees something or points into a book or just wants to be like her big brother. I love the sound she makes, “um,” when she wants something. I love the way she cuddles into me at bedtime. It’s amazing how she has grown. She is walking and trying to run. She is a busy little girl; learning the world around her.

I love to see Sarah and Ethan interact. I love to see Ethan give her a hug. I love the sound she makes when she hugs each of us at night, the mimic of the sound we make when we kiss each other, even though she cannot kiss yet. I love to see Ethan try to teach her things, although he claims, “She can’t remember words.”

I pray today a day of rejoicing in all of our lives. May Sarah’s baptism be a blessing to many. May the service educate, and grow our understanding of baptism and adoption, our own adoption into your family, and your special love for each of your children.

Lord, may we be faithful to raise Sarah (and Ethan) that they will know you and serve you. We thank you for the gift of children, the blessing of children, and the opportunity to be used of you in their lives. Teach us your ways, that we might teach them. Grow us in our love of you and love of neighbor that we might grow them. And open us to learn from them.

Give us the insight to know what each of them needs in their lives. We cannot be their all in all, but you will use us to point them to you. And you will use many others for whom we give thanks. We thank you for our church family and those who embrace and teach and encourage our children, and those who do the same for us as we learn to be parents.

Amen.

Add a Comment