Before she was conceived she was prayed for. Before she was born she was talked to, read to, and sang to. Before she left the hospital she heard prayers lifted to God on her behalf. Before she rolled over by herself she listened each night to scripture being read to her. From the time she was two months old until now she has “been to church” every time the doors are opened. She has witnessed service, work, responsibility, and love as it was lived by her parents and grandparents regularly during her short life.
I will admit that as I saw the event of her new birth on the horizon I thought, she is too young. I questioned how anyone eight years old could be guilty of sin in God’s eyes. I saw innocents in the life of a young child who plays with dolls, and pretends to be Snow White. I wondered if she could really make a lifelong decision, a lifelong commitment, to follow Jesus. Then it came to me. This is what we had prayed for. This is what her mom and dad had petitioned God for from before she was born. This is a child touched by God. Who am I to question God’s timing? Who am I to say “You’re too young.”?
Saturday evening Mary Alice Smith put on Christ in baptism. Saturday evening she became something greater than my granddaughter, she became my sister. Saturday evening she became to God, as I have always considered her; sinless.
Mary Alice is the first born great-grandchild of Homer and Glenda Smith. That doesn’t make her better, or more privileged than the twelve other great-grandchildren they have. She just happened to be the first of the next generation in the Homer Smith family. Now, Mary Alice is the first born into God’s family. She is the first, of the next generation, of the Homer Smith bloodline to become a child of God.
Praise God!
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4
Till next time,
Grump
Indeed, there is no greater joy! Rejoicing with you and your family!