Callie's Dedication

We wanted to do a special post on Callie's dedication. On May 9, 2010 (mother's day) we dedicated Callie in our church. We dont feel like anything special necessarily happens when you dedicate a child, but it is a way for us to say publicly that ultimately we care more about her belonging to God than anything else. The words that the pastor says are, "Callie, together with your mom and dad and this body of believers, I dedicate you to God, surrendering all worldly claims on your life in hopes that one day you will belong wholly to God."
I think the phrase that provides the most challenge for us as parents is the phrase "surrendering all worldly claims on your life." This means that ultimately we dont want to claim anything for Callie's life to be ours. We have our own hopes and dreams for her, but we are ultimately laying those before the Lord and asking Him to do a work in Callie's life. It also means that while we are Callie's mom and dad on earth, God is ultimately her Father. At the end of the day, we can't say to God something like: "why are you doing this to her, she is our daughter?" That would be holding onto a worldly claim as her parents. We want to trust God with everything in her life and want to see her first as God's, then as His gift to us to provide for, care for, and love (but ultimately she is His).
So please join us in praying that she would belong wholly to God someday and that God would give us grace to view her ultimately as His and not our own.