My Lively Little Stones: The Days Of Your Youth

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut--when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low-- they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets-- before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. - Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Nearly a year ago, a bright and caring young man came to me and asked to talk about baptism. Shawn is was very young, so I wanted to be sure he understood what baptism was. I asked him why he wanted to be baptized and his answer warmed my heart. "Jesus gave me His life and I want my life to be His." Simple, sweet, and beautiful. But we talked about what baptism was for and why we need to be baptized, and I soon found (as I suspected) that Shawn was still a little young for this. When we talked about Acts 2:38 and how baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, I asked Shawn if he felt like he had any sins. He said he didn't really thing so. ... If only we could go back to those day, you know? We talked about how it might not be time for him to be baptized yet, but that did not mean that he had to wait to live for the Lord, and we talked about how to do that.
After months of mature contemplation, Shawn came to me again and told me he remembered what we had talked about and he knew he was ready. We talked about how baptism is being introduced into a new way of life, it was not getting wet, it was beginning the walk with Christ that, when followed, results in the continual washing by the blood of Christ (1John 1). I am proud to say that Shawn is now a brother in Christ, and very involved in showing his faith by his works.

Shawn's baptism was not deterred by the filthiness of our baptistry. Someone may have forgotten to add the cleaning chemicals... it was a little scary, but after only a seconds hesitation, Shawn took the plunge.

Before we even had a chance to clean the baptistry, April asked to talk to me about baptism. She had lots of very mature questions, and made it clear that she had thought a lot about being baptized. April has a wonderful grasp of how coming to God means giving Him your best, and she knew to give God her best she needed to be washed clean and giver her life to Him. I should really record everything these precious children of God tell me when they come to talk to me about baptism, because I remember being brought to tears by their grasp of what God wants of them, and their obligation to Him, but I cannot remember the way they put it. Sorry, I can remember it impressed me, but not all the words. I can say that April seemed to grasp it more than anyone I have ever talked to about it before, and I am quite proud of her.

Though the baptistry was beginning to look like a swamp, April said, "It doesn't matter to me, I'm ready to do what I need to do!" I am so proud of our two fine examples to young children everywhere.

I haven't done the stone assigning part of my lively little stones blog in a while, so here are your new birth stones.

Since Shawn's new birthday is in September his is sapphire.