Observing his newly baptized sleeping daughter, Jeremy said, “Look how cute she looks lying there fast asleep.”  Her outspoken great aunt Maude, always quick with a reply, answered, “Before you know it, she’ll become like us!”  Everyone laughed fully knowing what she meant.  All this innocence and simplicity could become an incredible and  complicated ball of yarn.

This sleeping child will meet numerous influences which can either restrict or embolden her growth.  She will have an abundance of resources, or lack them, which, either way, will leave their lasting mark.  Love, education, and opportunity will touch and instill in this child or pass her by.  Yet, despite all the obstacles she may or may not meet, in the end a surprising person can emerge to shatter every presumption.

Why?  Remember the miracle that happens at Baptism.  The sheer astonishing wondrous gift from God is given to all infants bathed in the font’s waters.  Listen to the words of John’s gospel: “But to those who accept Jesus he gives power to become God’s children.” John continues, “…to those who believe in his [Jesus] name who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice, nor by a man’s decision but of God”  (John 1:12).

We belong to the family of God, which reminds us that our sustenance comes from the Trinity: God the father, who created us, Jesus, God’s son who saved us, and the Holy Spirit who inspires us.  And from the kinship of the saints, the cloud of witnesses, plus those fellow pilgrims who walk beside us.

As God’s children, Jesus sends us to live our purpose-filled life looking closely at our family situation, our home-life, our neighborhood, and then our world, and finally, any place we see the need for God’s love and mercy.  For it is there God our father is calling every baptized person to bear fruit. 

The miracle of Baptism includes our inheritance.  It is the crown that secures our never-ending future.  Without any cost from us, Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead.  Jesus rewrote our destiny.  We might ask: What do we do with all this merit we did not earn ourselves? 

We can live like we already possess it.  We can show our gratitude by the choices we make now.  Simply stated, we freely choose to love God, and our neighbors as ourselves.  Why? It’s simple, because God loved us first.  And like the newly baptized sleeping child, a person may emerge shattering all unholy presumptions.

 Act justly, love tenderly, serve others and walk humbly with God. Micah