If my decisiveness causes divisiveness, then come what may because I've lived too much of my life in the gray.







Tuesday, March 12, 2013

O Glorious Day

     I wasn't sure it would happen.  I thought Mike and McKala might not make it since his is the next truck out for disaster relief and she gets to go with him before she nails down a job.  Megan had her finals due Friday night.  Miranda had to work until midnight.  But those 2 girls showed up from Georgia anyway at 2:30 Saturday afternoon. 
     I stepped onto the front porch to shake something out and there they were, down at the field petting the calves.  I leaned over the rail and breathed in the sight.  Even after they came up the drive, Miranda headed to the pasture to the see Patty, the pig.  Macklynn went straight for Megan's bags and gladly brought them in.  When McKala took him to buy some groceries that afternoon, he made her sit still until he could come around and open her door.  This is vital for a child who is so self conscious.  He'll shut down in a heart beat if he's embarrassed or in trouble.  Sometimes I wonder if it was the trauma of the Transverse Myelitis or if it's just who he is, a lot like his Daddy, a brilliant live wire.
     Anyway, Miranda was the crux of the occasion.  Even though most family and friends didn't make it, Miranda wanted it to happen sooner than later.  She was saved when she was 12.  We were not led to join any particular local church because of how the youth were managed, so she was denied Baptism.  She tried to explain it to her coworkers last week.  Later, one mentioned that Miranda was going home for her "bar mitzvah".  When another one was recounting how cold her baptism was because they forgot to turn on the heater, that same woman had no idea what they were talking about.  The example of "immersion" was completely foreign to her.  Does it ever occur to us in our daily living that there are people who only go by what they're told and by the traditions of their families?  People need to know the truth: "...Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." ~ Acts 2: 38.  As our pastor, Brother Kevin, says, "You are not there by coincidence."  Wherever you are, there is someone who is "dying" to know the truth of Christ and His Living Word, the Bible. 
     I found some comic relief when Miranda told me that in another conversation, a fellow employee shushed the foul language of another because, "she said, 'Miranda's father is a mercenary!'"  I know she had good intentions and just misspoke, but how funny!
     I'd warned the kids not to ask Megan and Miranda to take them anywhere, since their time with us wouldn't last much more than 24 hours.  Wouldn't you know Miranda had already decided to take the ones with February birthdays to the movies?  So, when they got done sitting around and singing impromptu songs like "Are You Washed in the Blood?" (which I stood hearing from the other room, in chills), we went to see "Escape from Planet Earth".  It "only" had a couple of subliminal messages and was all in all about brotherly loyalty ...nice message since Megan and Miranda were at each other's throats ...amazing to me how they live together as opposite as they are.
     We got home around 10 pm, needing to prepare for Sunday.  The little ones got their baths, while Megan helped McKala figure out the problem with the sewing machine she'd left her to use.  (Michael had managed to rip a hole in the only decent jeans he has.)  Then Megan helped McKala with her lasagna for Sunday's lunch.  I ironed in Miranda's room, where she was resting.  With a cold coming on, she felt terrible the whole weekend.  Too, there were 3 of us fighting our hormones!  Oh my.  I finally went to bed at 1:30 am, thanks to "springing forward". 
     Sunday morning, chaos ensued.  There's a time and place for everything.  It was NOT the time for me to fuss at all the things I found undone when I went downstairs to rouse the troups.  By the time we got in the car, most of us were "fit to be tied".   I know it's just Satan's way of preventing us from whole heartedly participating in the morning worship, so you'd think I'd get a clue by now of what's happening WHILE it's happening!
     We met with the other "baptizees" before the service.  There were 10 ranging in age from 12 to 88.  Yes, I said "88".  How wonderful.  As we made our way downstairs, Jake came through the door.  He'd driven from a neighboring county to be there for McKala and her baptism.  He's doing all the right things.   And, yes, McKala was baptized too.  So was Melody and so was Michael. 
     Sometimes parental pride (which I shunned last week) gets the best of us ;) and one couldn't help but see Mike's pleasure at the presence of ALL our children filling up the seats beside us.  It didn't take Madalynn long to curl up on Miranda's lap and fall asleep.  I had the camera and was so tempted to take a picture every time we stood and Miranda was left seated because Madalynn was wrapped around her. 
     There was something good in the delay of the baptisms.  Miranda made the decision to repent of her sins when she was 12.  Now she's 18.  McKala was very young, 6, pursuing me incessantly but made a firm decision when she 11.  Now she's 16.  Michael was 9, giving his life to Jesus the same summer that Miranda did.  Now he's 15.  Melody was 8 and wrote recently of how her heart felt as she answered the call.  Now she's 12.  I had time to make sure that they are "sure".  I got the opportunity to make certain that their salvations weren't only emotionally charged quick fixes to guilt trips or misunderstandings, nor acts of compliance.
     Mike motioned for us all to leave when the participants were dismissed to get ready.  He wanted a front row seat in the old santuary where the baptismal pool is.   The first to be submerged was the elderly woman.  She just couldn't quit smiling.  She'd had the truth obscured by Jehovah's Witness for many, many years.  Every story was special.  I've never seen couples baptized together.  There were 2.  The tears were overflowing well before the kids' turns.  Enter the Harpers!  The kids tell me they whispered among themselves of being in together, when the preacher had the same notion!  He bid them ALL in as we onlookers laughed and worried a little that it wouldn't hold.  (The kids say it did splash out some :)  The laughter continued when Brother Kevin nearly went under with Michael and his big self.
     Their public profession came full circle.  That's what counted as much as anything, "public".  That Macklynn and Madalynn got to witness it was so good.  It gave credence as an outward sign of faith and it spawned conversations and questions I'm glad to answer.
     The only regret I have in it all is that I wasn't careful to notate the exact day of each one's decision to follow Christ.  I can't even remember the date I was saved.  It was in the spring and I was a 21 year old sitting in a couselor's office.  (Thank you again for sending us there, Memaw.)  I, too, didn't get baptized for several years.  I finally did with Megan 6 years later in The New River.  Now, in October THAT was cold.  True enough, it's a walk and a "day" isn't as important as a "life" devoted to Christ.  Though, a legacy I'd like our children to begin in their own families is to celebrate their "second births" even more so than their first.  There's no Biblical mandate for it.  I carefully say "but" here ...because if we're going to commemorate sentimental things, they should be substantial instead of supersticious, as are most of the holidays we entertain.  I love birthdays because with our big ole family, it's a time to tell and show each child how important they are to me and bless them on a day when every other day makes them just one of the pack ...which isn't a bad thing, by the way.
     When we got back to the house, the temperature was in the 60s.  While the lasagna cooked and before I knew it, Michael had Megan out in the field across the creek letting her ride his motorcycle.  She returned glowing that she still had "the touch".   McKala and Jake were out fishing by the pond with Michael, Macklynn, and Madalynn (with her new birthday pole).  Melody rode her bike and hit a few softballs.  And even though she had a headache that 4 Tylenol didn't touch, Miranda showed us how she normally gives the cats' shots.  She and I sat on the swing together till we were so comfortable in the sun, we couldn't move.  Mike and Megan sat down the porch in the rockers.  Man, just like old times, all of it, just being family.  O glorious day. 
    

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