Baby dedication is an amazing time to get family and friends together, to take pictures, and share a moment with the pastors. But really, it’s so much more meaningful than that. In the book of 1 Samuel, there’s a woman by the name of Hannah whose womb had been closed. And every year, the Bible says that she would make her request to bare a son known to God in her private prayer time. This account records her exchanges with the priest Eli who was at the temple one year who, after realizing Hannah was praying at the Temple, blessed her, and proclaimed that her prayers be answered. Over the next few verses, we read that Hannah surely conceives that year and, as she promised to the Lord, if He granted her heart’s desire to have a son, she dedicates Samuel back to God after he has been weaned. In reading Hannah’s story, we empathize with her lamenting spirit over wanting something so desperately, to be a mother and to call a child her own. We also are enlightened by the power of personal prayer she made a part of her life. And finally, we are given an example of what it means to recognize where blessings originate from and respect that in dedicating them back to the God.
Baby dedication is recognizing that God is the author of life. He is the author of all good and perfect gifts (James 1:17). And He is the One who we can fully entrust our children to in the way we raise them and direct them.
In choosing to have our daughters dedicated, it is our symbol to God that we understand these girls are a gift from Him and we desire to honor the Father of our gifts early in their lives. We are making the decision to consecrate (set apart and separate) our children for the purpose on their lives. Parenting and motherhood is challenging enough; so without making a clear heart choice to invite God in, that presents a much more challenging life ahead. Baby dedication makes a bold statement before God, our family & friends, & even strangers that we vow to keep God in the midst of every decision we make for our children. It keeps us accountable to our community that we have committed this child to a different life than that of the world and that means we are to yield to God’s wisdom, His direction and correction in raising our little gifts.
This Mother’s Day, I am especially grateful for the decision to have had my daughters dedicated and for the privilege to raise them up in the admonition and fear of the Lord. The Bible says to, “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). As I witness my ten-year-old, Leah, maturing into a young lady still dedicated to serving the Lord and others, I’m reminded of the rich legacy she’s had instilled in her from growing up in the House of God. That much more, I’m forever humbled to have yet another opportunity to raise our newest blessing of a baby girl, London, in the House of the Lord worshiping, dancing, and praising the God who gave us her. Here’s to London turning ONE!