Baptism

Today, our church celebrated the baptism of Jesus. Baptism is a Christian sacrament of admission and adoption, usually with water, into the Christian Church. My siblings and I were all baptised as infants. Three of my four children were also baptised before they were three months old. The last of them, Paul, was eighteen months old before he was baptised.  Moving on to my grandchildren, Carly was about to turn seven when she was baptised and Skylar is nearly one and has yet to be.

When I hear the story of Jesus and John the Baptist in the Jordan river, I smile because it reminds me of when my sister Barb, was baptised as a Morman when she was around 30.  Most of my family attended the ceremony in support of her.  My mom was quite nervous, as one of her babies was leaving the Catholic church.  As we were waiting for the baptism to start, my mom looked up and saw the picture, similar to the one on this page, and said "who is that a picture of?"  

I looked at my mom with confusion, as everyone knows who that is a picture of.  Anyway, the nice 'elder' of Barb's church answered with "Why that is Jesus and John the Baptist."  and my mom said:  Oh, you have them too!  At that point, I wanted to crawl under a chair and hide in embarrassment.

I tell you this story as it reminds me of my mom and my sister, both who have been in heaven for a while.  It reminds me of how strong my mother was, to support her children, who continually questioned her beliefs as they struggled to have their own.  My children are no different.  Each is their own person, with their own beliefs.