Spring:
(n) A source, origin, a beginning
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I had no idea I would feel the way I did.
That I would be standing there looking at my firstborn in her First Holy Communion dress walk down the aisle with her classmates and I would become overwhelmed with emotion.
That I would not be able to stop the tears from streaming down my face when I saw her face framed by the exact same veil I wore so many years ago.
The significance of the occasion struck me like a bolt of lightning and I felt the weight of the moment run through my soul rooting me to the ground. I thought to myself that I would not be able to move right then even if I wanted to. I became paralyzed in the realization that my daughter, my Claire, was truly at the beginning of one of the most important journeys of her life.
Her journey of faith.
My own faith journey flashed before my eyes right then and there. The stories, the parables, the churches, the schooling, the praying, the retreats, the trust, the tradition, the ritual, the unwavering belief and then....the doubt and the disbelief and the questioning and the wandering and the searching and the praying and the waiting and the wondering and then....the finding once again.
She is starting this, I thought. She is starting her journey. She has faith in her eyes, I thought. She trusts this. She trusts this direction she is heading. She believes. She is at the real beginning of her very own relationship with a God that she will come to know in her own unique way.
And as much as I have had my own doubts about mainly everything that has to do with my faith and my God, in that moment I had no doubt whatsoever about the decision we made to give her this.
To plant her feet on faith's path.
In the homily, the priest said, "There are a lot of things wrong in this church. This is not one of them."
Yes, he is right. This is not one of them.
I stood behind her when she received Holy Communion for the first time and when we returned to the pew, we knelt side by side in silent prayer. After a few minutes, I whispered to her, "Claire, I pray that this is the beginning of a long and lasting relationship with God. And I pray that God will always be your side. Just like He's been by mine. He's been there throughout my entire life and I pray you will feel Him and know Him throughout yours."
I know the path she will walk will be all her own. But I am humbled to have been standing by her side at the beginning of her journey of faith.
That I would be standing there looking at my firstborn in her First Holy Communion dress walk down the aisle with her classmates and I would become overwhelmed with emotion.
That I would not be able to stop the tears from streaming down my face when I saw her face framed by the exact same veil I wore so many years ago.
The significance of the occasion struck me like a bolt of lightning and I felt the weight of the moment run through my soul rooting me to the ground. I thought to myself that I would not be able to move right then even if I wanted to. I became paralyzed in the realization that my daughter, my Claire, was truly at the beginning of one of the most important journeys of her life.
Her journey of faith.
My own faith journey flashed before my eyes right then and there. The stories, the parables, the churches, the schooling, the praying, the retreats, the trust, the tradition, the ritual, the unwavering belief and then....the doubt and the disbelief and the questioning and the wandering and the searching and the praying and the waiting and the wondering and then....the finding once again.
She is starting this, I thought. She is starting her journey. She has faith in her eyes, I thought. She trusts this. She trusts this direction she is heading. She believes. She is at the real beginning of her very own relationship with a God that she will come to know in her own unique way.
And as much as I have had my own doubts about mainly everything that has to do with my faith and my God, in that moment I had no doubt whatsoever about the decision we made to give her this.
To plant her feet on faith's path.
In the homily, the priest said, "There are a lot of things wrong in this church. This is not one of them."
Yes, he is right. This is not one of them.
I stood behind her when she received Holy Communion for the first time and when we returned to the pew, we knelt side by side in silent prayer. After a few minutes, I whispered to her, "Claire, I pray that this is the beginning of a long and lasting relationship with God. And I pray that God will always be your side. Just like He's been by mine. He's been there throughout my entire life and I pray you will feel Him and know Him throughout yours."
I know the path she will walk will be all her own. But I am humbled to have been standing by her side at the beginning of her journey of faith.
Claire is wearing the veil I wore on my First Communion and a cape that my grandmother knitted so many years ago. I know that both my grandma and my aunt were smiling down from heaven watching their Claire Rose.
When I woke up Saturday morning, Phoebe was by my side and she said to me,
"Mama, today is Claire's special day."
She was so proud of her sister and treated her with love all day long.
My glowing Claire Rose....
•••••••••••••••••••
Click on over to Beth's Place for more You Capture posts about Spring.
"Mama, today is Claire's special day."
She was so proud of her sister and treated her with love all day long.
My glowing Claire Rose....
•••••••••••••••••••
Click on over to Beth's Place for more You Capture posts about Spring.
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