out of the mouth of babes.

We had a big big saturday!!!  My neice was baptized.   It was a great day – a beautiful day.   Despite our holes – the empty places that should have been filled with grandparents- we are learning how to be family.  And saturday was a great practice at being just that: family.    Family not defined by blood but by love.   

Brenda was trying to explain to Janey what was going to happen as she was baptized and what it meant.   Given that most adults struggle to articulate what baptism actually means and why we still do it after all these years, this was not the easiest to explain to a 3 year old.  

Brenda likened it to becoming clean like what happens in the bath.   But this is more about the inside.   And Janey blurted out, “so I’m new then.”  

I think she got it.   I think about all the books and pages and words that have been offered to try and understand the mystery of the sacrament of baptism and she at 3 years old got it – in a nut shell.   My brother calls Janey, their “Jesus-girl.”

She was born two weeks after dad died and since then,  she has led us into the “new” life that comes through death whether we wanted to go there or not.  

and saturday she reminded us that it’s not just Janey that is being made new but as we  renewed our baptismal vows, we are all being made new again - just as if we were 3 years old.