This Sunday morning was stormy, raining and thundering and lightning, but in our family the sun was gloriously shining in the All Saints Anglican Church in Peachtree City, Georgia as my youngest grandson was confirmed in the church by Archbishop Foley Beach. I’m so proud of Emerson. He’s such a sweet loving boy. I know Chief was smiling down today. He would be saying, “He’s a fine little fella!”

Jesus loved to be surrounded by children. Scripture in Luke reads, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” God serves as our Heavenly Father and considers us his sons and daughters. Children are gifts to us from God. Psalm 127:3 states, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.”

Jesus wants us to be humble in our faith, to be obedient and dependent on God, just as a child is dependent on his father. We read in Matthew that Jesus called out to a child in a crowd of people to come to him in saying, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

I think it’s so important to raise our children and our grandchildren with a belief that is strong and secure in God’s teachings. Our faith serves as the framework of our moral compass, giving us a sense of what is right and what is wrong. Life’s journey is hard. When we can depend on God’s strength, we can see sunshine on the road ahead. We have faith that God will send a rainbow at the end of the storm. Our faith also gives us a community of believers that gather around us to comfort and support us in times of sorrow and to celebrate and rejoice with us in times of joy.

Hebrews 11:6 states, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Mark Williamson writes “faith is the doorway for all the other blessings that God wants to bring into your life. But they start with faith — without faith we can’t access the hope, love, joy and peace that God longs to bring to us.”

“Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.” — Henry Ward Beecher