Church on Mothers Day

There are a few holidays that fall on Sundays each year. Easter, Mother's Day, Fathers Day. Most people gather with their loved ones in church those holidays. As with Christmas when it falls on a Sunday. Those 4 days there are more people in church than any other Sundays through out the year. The most popular being Easter.

On Mother's Day a lot of churches have baby dedication. That's when all the baby's born from one Mother's Day to the next are "adopted" into the church. This is a baptist version of baby baptizing since we as baptist don't do that. I've only ever been apart of a baby dedication once and that was with Aden. While we were going to church we were not members when any of the others were babies. Aden was dedicated on Mother's Day 2005. He was almost 2 years old but we wanted to go ahead anyway. It was very nice.

This year I'm glad to be apart of a church that did baby dedication already. And before now I never though of a reason it shouldn't be on Mother's Day. I mean that's like the perfect day. But my eyes have been opened to a world no one wants to be in. A world that I'm happy to have baby day to have been in January instead if May. The world of baby loss and infertility.

Now I am not even going to act like I know the pain of infertility. I have children. I had my first healthy full term child at just 15 years old. And I have had 4 other living children since then. Then there is Joshua and i have also suffered though to a lesser extent a handful of earlier miscarriages. In fact everyone of my children except my oldest is a rainbow baby. A rainbow baby is a baby born after a miscarriage or infant loss. So while I know the pain of loss very well I do not know the pain of infertility. But I can imagine the pain the women who want to be mothers who are lead to be care givers feel on Mother's Day and then to have to sit through baby day at church on the same day. I can see why they would want to skip it. I think of them as childless mothers who will one day be blessed with a child they so desperate want to bring home and love forever.

Then there's people. Women, families like mine who have had a baby or infant loss this year. Who can't even glance in the nursery. Who skipped baby day I January and would not be able to sit through it in May either. I would love to be able to but I know it's too soon for me and I couldn't do it and I'm so glad I get to go to church and not be faced with that choice of crying through it of waiting in the bathroom until that part is over.

I'm not writing this saying that baby's shouldn't be dedicated in Mother's Day. Just that I'm glad not every church does it that way. There are mothers who are hurting this Mother's Day. And not having to be at a baby dedication is one less sting from the world.