Hearts Opened

                            

Each chapter of my book Water for Your Soul ends with a haiku verse under the heading, “Reflections on the water.” For example, here’s the verse from chapter 11:

                      

eyes sprung wide open

staring into space for sleep

and for God

 

If you are thinking, what in the world is that about, that’s okay! It’s what I intended – that you begin thinking about this. Of course, I trust it’ll make more sense when you’ve read the pages before it. Even then I want you my reader to think about baptism: how what happens here touches your life today, how you can be surprised by it, how you didn’t really leave it behind long ago. Let your heart and mind be opened!

 

Baptism is not closed event but an opening one. Sometimes we treat baptism as “done,” even “getting our child done.” We move on as if that’s over and now we can get to the rest of our lives, all the things we ourselves decide are important without divine interference. But baptismal spirituality sees baptism differently – as a real beginning and as our opening to God and God’s new world. 

 

Perhaps we should think of our baptized life as a flower. We are blooms opened by God and called to be open to God’s working in us and around us. Instead of thinking we know all we need to know about the mystery of God, God calls us to see this baptismal water seeping into every corner of life and invites us to see and experience his hand at work where we had not. Baptism gives life. Baptism opens us to life with God.

 

Henry Van Dyke has the beautiful line in Beethoven’s “Hymn to Joy” that “hearts unfold like flow’rs before thee” [God]. Baptism is the unfolding and opening work of God who calls and invites us into becoming who we really are, children of God. What a promise, what an adventure! As we journey, John writes, “What we do know is this: when [Christ] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (I John 3:2b).

 

Never walk away from a baptism, your own or your child’s or another’s, with a closed heart. God has much more in mind for us.

How People Are Using WATER FOR YOUR SOUL

                                     

I am delighted by the uses I have learned that readers have found for my book, Water for Your Soul. When I wrote it, I hoped that its theme would find their way into people’s lives. I keep praying that it won’t be just one more book, especially not one more to just gather dust on the shelf.

 

Here’s what I’ve heard recently about people are using the book.

 

1. A card from a friend in Iowa tells how she is ending each day with a chapter for her personal devotional time. She writes that she has too many books purchased through the years that have gathered dust on her shelf, but this is not one of them.

 

2. Readers from Texas tell me that their pastor bought books to use with young teens at a confirmation camp. I believe the book is accessible so I hope that includes this group too.

 

3. A colleague in Wisconsin tells me he’s using it for family devotions every few days – and related how his middle-school-age son has a favorite story from one of the chapter readings.  

 

4. This autumn a small Bible study group at my church has committed to using it at their once-a-month meetings, likely about three chapters a time. I reminded them that my book’s website has a free study guide with questions usable for several lessons.

 

That’s a sampling of how the book’s beginning to be used. I look forward to hearing from other readers – maybe you – and hope to be able to share helpful practices more later.