Sam's Blessing

We decided to do Sam's blessing in Utah instead of our own ward. This is the first time we have done this, mostly because we're not super attached to our ward and thought it would be nice to do it with family. We would have done it in Amy's parents' ward, but we were driving home on the first Sunday of the month when it's traditionally done, so we decided to just do it at their house instead.

It ended up being really nice. In addition to David and Mary, Scott and Elisha came over with their kids, Brian Walton, Katie Johnson, and Greg and Sherrill Reid were all able to be there. I was especially happy that Greg and Sherrill could be there. For some reason, I invited them over as kind of an afterthought the day before the blessing, and he, of course, made it a priority and showed up.

We did the blessing in their front room which has just great lighting. It was a bright summery day just right after church. It was kind of funny because I kind of felt like that it would be kind of like a church meeting, but once everyone got there, the priesthood holders stood up and we did the blessing, and that was it. Not much fanfare or pomp, but it was really nice.

With my other baby blessings, I have gone into them with some pre-formed thoughts about the things I would like to bless them with. Most people in the church would probably disagree with that approach, saying that it should all come through the Spirit and that you are simply acting as a mouthpiece for God, but I don't see why if I'm acting as the proxy for the Lord, blessing his/my child, why some of my own thoughts wouldn't also be inspired, even if they are some things that I have conceived of beforehand.

This time, however, I felt more prompting in a direction with the blessing than I ever have before. I blessed Sam that he would be able to grow up with the blessings of peace and happiness that come through the gospel. As I started pursuing this line of thought, I felt impressed to say that Sam would be able to bring the light of the gospel to those who are in darkness. He would be the means by which the Lord could work through to touch the hearts of those who are despairing and help bring them back to the light of the Lord.

It was a neat experience for me because going into the blessing those weren't my thoughts at all. I didn't really have much going into the blessing, and maybe that's where you could argue that's because I finally allowed the Lord to speak through me. I still don't think I completely agree with that line of thinking, but this experience did help me to see more explicitly how God could use my voice.

This morning Dave shared with me that his dad had told him just how proud he was of me, and of the person that I have become. He said that he knew Dave had been seeing this all along, but he was able to have a broader perspective not being as closely connected to me to be able to see a little more about the far reaching impact the gospel has had on my life. I was happy to hear that, and so happy that he could be part of that experience with us.