We are so thankful for your life and for God’s promise of faithfulness as you enter His community. Even though you have two big brothers, and will likely grow up to be a tough kid, we pray that you will grow to depend more on God than on your own strength. Today, we as your parents also make a promise that though we are far from perfect, we will rely on God’s grace and the Holy Spirit, along with our family and this church, to raise you to be a committed, passionate follower of Jesus.
Love,
Mom & Dad
P.S. I was told to keep this letter to about three sentences for your baptism this morning, but you know this Mama has much, much more she could say.
The enormity of the promises we made, of the promises made to you by God and our congregation, are a little more clear to me now on child #3 than they were six years ago when your brother Caleb was baptized.
It is humbling to be given the gift of raising you -- especially when I'm well aware that while we love you dearly, your daddy and I are not endless wells of patience, kindness and wisdom. We don't have all the answers, and we don't and won't do everything right. (I'm sure you'll remind me of this when you're a teenager.)
But, we are committed to raising you within a community of believers -- a group of people who know that thanks to grace, we are called to be a small part of God's larger story. In a sermon on baptism a few months ago, Pastor Larry said, "Every time a child is baptized, God tells us again that His work and His story are continuing to move forward. That another generation is taking its place in carrying out God’s work of bring blessing in a world that suffers from far too much curse, that there is a newness, freshness, a deeper hope that has again come to the story with the baptism of this child."
Levi, I'm so thankful that God already has you in his hands, even if you're not aware of it yet. And your dad and I pray that someday you will grasp that hand as you walk this uneven road of life.
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