"I Like to Look for Rainbows" Baptism Talk

I found some notes to a baptism talk I forgot I gave back in May for one of my Primary girls. (In fact, it was my first baptism talk, as the rest have all been about the Holy Ghost.) She really loves the song "When I Am Baptized," so I found scripture stories and symbolism related to the lyrics. As the notes were minimal and it was months ago, I did my best to reconstruct the talk here.

"I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain"

[I briefly reviewed the story of Noah and the ark]. The rain washed away all the wickedness from the earth so it could start anew. After the water dried up, God put a rainbow in the sky to represent the covenant He made to never flood the earth again, and the beauty that results from being clean. Just as a rainbow appears after every rain to remind us of this promise, repenting and taking the sacrament every week renews the covenants we made at baptism and reminds us of God's promise to always forgive us.

"And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again"

Just as we find the earth beautiful after a cleansing rain, so can we find the process and product of being cleansed through the Atonement beautiful. [I then shared the story of Alma, a former priest of wicked King Noah]. Those who listened to Alma's preaching and were baptized felt that way:

And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever. (Mosiah 18:30)

As these people show, repentance and sanctification are beautiful, joyous experiences that lead to beautiful, joyous results.

[Chorus]
"I know when I am baptized, my wrongs are washed away.
"And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day."

Rain leads to growth; plants can't grow without rain. We need the ordinances of baptism and the partaking of the sacrament in order to grow closer to the Savior. After all, the gospel is all about progress.

Comments

New URL Coming Soon To Avoid Using "Mormon"

photo by ilker In light of President Nelson's talk in October 2018 general conference , I will be changing the title and address of this blog very soon to eliminate the use of the word "Mormon." Because I won't be buying a domain name, I don't know what the new URL and blog name will be yet. I'm not very literate in the website world, so please bear with me as I roll out these changes. I'm trying to learn as much as I can quickly to reduce broken links and errors. Thank you, and I hope you keep reading my blog!

Little Girls No More

Read this article . And we wonder why girls as young as eleven are losing their virginity and why there are so many sexual predators out there. The company argues the padding is for modesty. On the one hand, that is understandable. My little sister went through puberty very early, and my mom had a hard time finding a little-girl bathing suit that covered my sister completely. On the other hand, if parents are so worried about modesty, why are they letting their little girls wear bikinis, especially if they are starting to blossom at a young age? Why can't little girls just be little girls? They'll have the rest of their lives to be grown women. Childhood lasts only for a brief moment. And once it's over, most everyone wishes at some time or other that they could go back. I apologize this isn't actually a doctrinal post. But this problem of sexualizing our little girls really bothers me. As members of the Church, we must set the example and dress our children modestly fr...

Callings

lds.org The Church runs on volunteered time and service, organized through callings. We choose to accept or reject these callings when Church leaders extend them to us. When we are faced with this choice we must remember the following: Church leaders truly are inspired from heaven. They know where we need to serve. We must not doubt them even if it is difficult not to. There are many reasons why a certain calling is right for us. Most obvious, we have the necessary qualities and skills for that position or, conversely, we need to develop the needed qualities and skills. Other reasons may not even be related to the calling. In my case, I needed to meet a certain person, who shared the same calling. We have since become close friends and blessings in each other's lives. When we magnify our callings, everyone benefits. We grow and the ward grows; we learn and the ward learns; we love and the ward loves us back. Every calling in the ward is important. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 e...

Brightening My Light

Search This Blog