Yes! Yes! Yes!!!

"Child of God, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the Cross of Christ forever." 
Service of Baptism- Lutheran Hymnal

Today our eldest will be Confirmed.  I am very proud of her, and very excited about the service. Later this morning she will stand up and in front of God and everybody, affirm her baptism.  In other words, she is going to say "Yes" to the God who first said "Yes" to her life.

When I was teaching Catechism, I would explain that Confirmation is not a graduation, but an affirmation of what God has already done.  Part of the way I understand Baptism is that in the waters and the Word, God reaches out to us, to claim us as his own precious child. God acts first by saying "YES! You are my child, and I call you my own. Yes! To your life!  Yes ! To your potential! YES! YES! YES! TO YOU!"  

As you can see, I think Baptism is a pretty amazing event in one's life...and it was in my own, even though I was too young to remember. However, the understanding that God loves me enough to want me and choose me in Baptism is something that has sustained me in the darkest, most difficult times.  Baptism was the promise that God loves me and believes in me even when no one else does.  Even when I can't believe in myself, or even love myself-- God still loves and chooses me.

So today I get to witness my 14 year old daughter chose to love God right back. It is an important commitment. It is easy to see the potential in our dear daughter. I find it easy to love her, as she was a gift from God and she's downright amazing.  (by the by...our 10 year old son is also a gift from God, and downright amazing in his own right :-)  So to see this young woman we love commit to follow and  love God right back... to say YES!  back to God...well it does this weary, old mom's heart a world of good.

I share this all with you not just because I'm an uber-proud mama, but because it is days like today that remind us all that God HAS chosen us as well.  God has already said YES! to you, by giving you life, and if you are baptised, by the adoption through those waters.  God loves you first, not because of what you have done or what you will become, but God loves you for who you are, right now, this minute.  God is saying YES!  to your life and God believes in you. 

Every morning we have the opportunity to choose what we will believe, what we will do, and whom we will follow.  Every morning we get to say YES!  back to the God who already calls us by name, and who says YES to us. 

Abba, you call us by name. You shaped us tenderly and knew us before we were born. You have affirmed and believed in us before anyone else did. Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Help our lives be lived as a YES!  right back to you.  Amen.