A Baby Blessing

Today was one of those beautifully blessed days - one of those perfect Sabbath Days.  This was a very unusual day for me when Joe and I attended church this morning.  There was no contention or "hurry up" attitude as we dressed and got ourselves out the door.  It felt very strange for the both of us to just walk into the chapel with no oxygen tank, no cane, no sweaters - we were just like everyone else.  I had gotten Joe's hair cut and his beard trimmed over the weekend so he looked exceptionally handsome this morning.

One of the highlights to me during the services this morning was the blessing of a new baby girl.  She belonged to a young couple that we've gotten to know since they moved here - first Quinn as a single man, then marrying Amy and bringing her here and now as new parents.  When it came time for the blessing, a very large contingency of worthy priesthood holders made their way to the front.  Quinn very proudly brought sleeping Reese to the middle of the circle and then commenced with blessing his daughter.

I've heard many, many blessings given to babies throughout the years.  Today's was a beautiful blessing, but for some reason there were a couple of things that stood out to me.  Quinn blessed her with:

• an appropriate amount of trials so that she would learn to overcome them; and
• a charitable attitude towards others.

I thought those two things were very special requests made to our Heavenly Father by an earthly father.  We all as parents want our children to have a wonderful life.  We don't want them to be hurt or experience pain in any sense of the word.  We want them to be happy and find joy in their lives.  However, by having "an appropriate amount of trials" that may be what Reese needs, and should have, to experience that joy and happiness and learn from the trials we all have to go through.

Being blessed with a charitable attitude towards others was a very special request, I thought.  In this day and time it seems that we are all in so much of a hurry and so many people don't seem to have time or take the time to do things for others.  And also so many times it seems that sometimes people forget to just be nice to others, to be kind or tolerant or lenient in their attitude towards others.  What a wonderful thing for a father to bless his daughter with.

I tried my best as a mother to make Corey understand what charity was and how to have a charitable attitude.  Every morning before leaving for school I would tell him that I loved him and also "Remember, be kind to everyone you meet".

When Corey was about seven or eight years old he decided he wanted to do something nice for our neighbors (most of whom where old enough to be his grandparents or great grandparents).  He decided he wanted to pick up pine cones for the neighbors as our neighborhood had plenty of pine trees.  He hopped on his bicycle armed with a large plastic bag and took off.  He returned a short while later with tears in his eyes.  He said no one wanted his help.  After talking with him, I came to the conclusion that his prospective recipients apparently thought he was wanting to do it for money rather than as a service to them and consequently they refused his help.

After drying his tears and suggesting that he change the wording for his request to help, he took off again.  I figured he must have gotten an opportunity when he didn't come home for several minutes.  Some time later, he burst into the back door with a big grin on his face!  Success at last!  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  So, did you find someone to help?
Corey:  Yes.  I went to Miss Ann's house and told her I wanted to pick up her pine cones just because I loved her - that I didn't want any money.
Me:  So, she let you do that?
Corey:  Yes.  We both picked up pine cones and then I got something better than money!
Me:  Really?  What was that?
Corey:  She gave me a piece of cake and a glass of milk!  And it was good!

I like to think that my son did grow into a charitable person.  From my experience and from what others told me, he apparently did.  So, with the blessing that Quinn pronounced upon his sweet little daughter, I'm sure she was listening to what her daddy said and all will be well as she grows up.