Her Father's Eyes

The best Father's Day gift I can think of is one experienced by our son last Sunday.  Jamie got to baptize his eight-year-old daughter, Anne-Marie.  I knew she had been requesting it for some time, and the time allotted fell on Father's Day!  As one of the pastors of his church, it was his privilege to baptize this oldest child, the serious one.

When I was asking about the grandchildren the other day, Jamie told me, "Anne-Marie is such a thinker!"  He further explained that she told him she had had three dreams, and that she had the interpretation for all of them.  She also said she knew the name of the baby her mother had lost a few years ago in an early miscarriage, and it was "Luke Jake." (It was so early the gender was not determined.)

I told Jamie that her insistence on being baptized reminded me of my 8-or-9-year-old self when I wanted my own Bible in the  worst way.  I had been wheedling for my mother to buy me one, but times were hard and money was tight with her houseful of kids to raise. Then one Saturday evening we were in a Kress store, when I got a glimpse of my Sunday School teacher. She seemed to be shielding something from me, and the next morning in class she surprised me with a New Testament--my own Bible! My joy knew no bounds.

Anne-Marie's water baptism made me think of her father when he was eight.  Our pastor had announced that particular Sunday morning that there would be a baptismal service that afternoon at Little Black Creek, a well-known, popular fishing and swimming site.  On the way out of the church after the service, I glanced at the list on a foyer table of baptismal candidates. There in his childish penmanship I saw Jamie's name!  He had signed himself up to be baptized!

He was an original thinker, too, such as the time he decided at age 7 to brew his dad a cup of coffee so that the aroma would wake him from a nap.  Balancing the cup of hot coffee, Jamie splashed some on his hand, causing him to jerk and spill the coffee into his father's ear as he lay sleeping on the floor.  Or the time he took it upon himself to secretly take a hostess gift consisting of a bottle of booze to a home prayer meeting. (A misguided customer at the store had given it to Howard as a Christmas present and it stood unopened on a high shelf.)

I have read that an early interest in spiritual things is one sign of a gifted child.  I believe it, although they may not be so gifted in gift-giving!  Oh yes, after the baptismal, Anne-Marie was presented with her own Bible.