Sunday, June 28, 2009

I Am Happy When I'm Here ... BUT I'm Too Realistic To Ever Believe

Those were the first words I heard out of Sky's mouth when I first met her at Church. I remember pondering about that afterwards. Church is 3 hours. You must be REALLY REALLY happy, spitting out fumes of happiness to be committed enough to stick around for 3 hours, listening to talks about the gospel and learning about the prophet or other scripture related wonders. You must be REALLY REALLY happy, to sit there and sing the hymns which talk about the Saviour, Zion, the Atonement, the love for Heavenly Father, repentence and the Plan of Salvation. And last but not least... you must be REALLY REALLY happy to come again.

She was ... but now she is even happier. Because last night... Sky got baptized. Last night... Sky made a promise to God. Last night... Sky was forgiven and given a blank slate. And as of last night, Sky is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Before the baptism - she was a bundle of nerves. She was jumpy but from trepidation of .. what have I gotten myself into? Besides a cuter jumpsuit since it was a large child's size, she was doing it. She was going to step into that water and make a promise to God. After the baptism, there was a joy in her twinkling eyes, a glimmer in her flushed cheeks and a giddiness in every step she took.

She bore her testimony and I'll never forget my favorite analogy - she talked about this path to God... how she had found it and though it wasn't going to be an easy path and despite other paths around that looked more fun and alluring, this was the path that was going to lead her where she knew she needed to be. What I liked about that analogy was the honest and sincere declaration that .. hey, this isn't easy... trust me, it isn't but I know it's the only way back to God and I want to do it... and oh wait, watch me.. cuz I am going to do it!

It was so beautifully priceless to see Sky's growth as she came to learn of the gospel and be touched by the Spirit. In her, I have found a friend who not only understands me and can relate, but is so devoted and so fun to be around because she is also silly, crazy, generous, thoughtful, caring, intelligent, and out of this world!



Happy Baptism Sky! You are truly awesome, fantabulous and superrific beyond belief!



No comments: