Given to the Light

While my parents were here, we were able to celebrate E and dedicate her to the Lord. We did this on American mother's day. I couldn't think of a better time to do it--to show my commitment as a mom to lead her to follow Christ and to honor my mom who is the godliest woman I know and guided me to become a follower of Christ.

I wrote letters to my daughter before she was born. In one I told her that before too long I was going to be able to meet her and give birth to her. In Portuguese the word for giving birth is "dar à luz," literally "to give to the light." What a beautiful picture for a baby being born. They are given to the light. They might be a little scared to leave the comfortable place where they've been. They might be a little scared of the light at first. But they are now given to the light...they can see. The world is a beautiful place, even more so since the child is now in it.

But I told E in her letter that before I would soon give her to the light, I had already done this. We had committed our daughter to the One True Light, to Christ, from the first moment we knew she was alive. We had prayed for her each day while we were waiting to hold her in our arms, and we continue to pray for her each day.

The baby dedication was a public vocalization of this commitment. Now our church family knows that she has been "given to the light" and will help support us in raising her to love Christ and to love his Church. Several of our friends came to celebrate this event with us. And it was even more special for my parents to be there with us. They have been the couple we have chosen to hold up as the model for our marriage, and they are the parents we are striving to be like.