The Hardest Thing

 October 2, 2022

“What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?” We sat for a few moments before anyone dared speak up to answer the question Matt asked in Sunday School this morning. It was tempting to speak of the mess we endured in 2004, but the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do occurred fifty years ago, only I didn’t realize at the time how hard it was.

Nathan was just a few weeks old when Linda and I stood before the little congregation in the Alma church, holding our firstborn as we dedicated him to the Lord. We were raised Baptist and EUB, so infant baptism wasn’t in our spiritual DNA. Instead, in the footsteps of the Biblical people Hannah and Mary, we dedicated him to God, recognizing that ultimately he wasn’t ours, but His, lent to us for awhile to love, nurture, and train in the faith. 

Unless their child is born with life-threatening issues, I don’t suppose many young parents fully understand the fragility of the little life they hold in their arms and hearts. I know we didn’t. But since Nate was diagnosed with brain and lung tumors last April, I’ve thought of that dedication those many years ago, and the seriousness of the commitment we made. We now have to decide if we are people of our word; now that reality has closed in upon us, are we still willing to make that commitment that we made those years ago? It didn’t seem so hard back then because it was only theoretical. It no longer is, and Matt’s question burns deep into my soul. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, I did fifty years ago, It didn’t seem hard back then; it surely is now. “Recognizing that he is not yours, but God’s, given to you for awhile to love and nurture, do you dedicate him to Christ and his service?” We did, and we do, even now.