Back in January, both sides of the family got together to celebrate Grace's "Parent Commitment Ceremony" at our church. One thing they have the parents do before the ceremony is send in what each child's name means and a verse to include in the program. This what we sent in for Grace. I absolutely love what Grace's name means, and the verse in Psalms came to mind immediately when I thought of her and what we pray to be true for her life.
Grace..."Blessed"
Elizabeth ..."God's Promise"
"Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you."
Psalm 63:3-5
During the ceremony, I just kept staring at her. Jeff was holding her while Grace sucked on her thumb and kicked her feet back and forth. I whispered over and over to Jeff, "She's just so sweet!" I remember being emotional during Garrett's ceremony when he was a baby, but I was even more so during Grace's. I think it was because Jeff and I committed almost three years ago to raise Garrett in a way that teaches him that the most important thing in life is glorifying God by loving Him and loving His people. I know now that it wasn't some simple and passive commitment to make. We've spent the last few years now trying our darndest to keep this commitment to God and to Garrett, and to be honest, it's been hard. It's so easy to fall into just "survival mode" when you have little ones running around. Keeping the focus on the right things and on the right One is hard at times, and we've needed so much continual grace.
Standing there in line that night with Grace, my heart was incredibly tender because I saw in her sweet little face that she is such a sweet gift from God. A gift who has been entrusted to us. A gift who desperately needs to be taught that God loves her like no one else and that she is blessed beyond measure to be able to love Him too all the days of her life! His love IS better than life!
(Click here to see the other pictures from the ceremony.)
2 comments:
LOVE this post Sarah! Y'all are such amazing parents with such sweet sweet kids!
What a beautiful family!!! I love how you wrote that it is so easy to slip into survival mode. Now that I have toddlers, I am starting to see how hard it is to be intentional about teaching our kids how to glorify Him. Congratulations on your special day! I know you both are such great parents. :-)
Post a Comment