Thought For The Week

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. It is always celebrated in early January. It is a good time to reflect on our own baptism and what it means to be baptised today. For many people, baptism is something that happened once, it was on particular day in the past, with a candle, a white christening shawl, some family photos and then it’s simply over.

But baptism is not something we had in the past. It’s something we are living today.

Our baptism quietly shapes our life, even when we are not aware of it. You could say that it simply whispers. It is the whisper to pray when we are in trouble. It is the whisper that always pulls us to kindness. It is the whisper that encourages us when we feel life is empty. It can be the whisper of hope when we are searching and looking for meaning in life. These are not random. They are signs of our baptism working quietly away. It is not something just for ourselves. It allows us to share with others too.

Sharing love and kindness and blessings is something we try and do our best with every day. It certainly is not always easy. Some days it comes easy and then other days we struggle to get going. We also know that sharing love and kindness cannot be limited to just one day or some days, it is part of our daily life journey.

It reminds me of an artist who will work with many brushes but it is the small brushes that bring out the finer details. It is the same in life. Life is so often a mix of our many small and ordinary moments. They won’t all make headline news and they never need to. And finally just to say our Baptism is a gentle reminder that life is a journey. Our baptism celebrates God’s love of you and inspires us to share this love in whatever way we can.

Thought For The Week is updated each Monday