Today we visited my son Jason and his wife Elise at their church ward. There we witnessed Jason blessing his son Caden. Christians take babies and have a Christening or baptism. Latter-day Saints, instead, give a baby a “name and a blessing.” It isn’t a baptism. We don’t do that until the child reaches the age of accountability for his actions and decisions which the Lord has revealed as age eight. We believe that children are born without sin and do not need to be baptized but they are born into a sinful world.
During the blessing we had our heads bowed and eyes closed as the blessing was given. A few times I peeked at Caden and saw him watching his father saying the blessing. He was calm and quiet and seemed very intent on what his father was doing and saying. Not understanding what was going on. Or did he, and not be able to talk about it? Do babies retain even a small amount of memory of their former pre mortal existence that will soon have a veil drawn across their minds that cause them to no longer remember?
He behaved this way each time I peeked as the blessing progressed. Toward the end when his father mentioned that he be blessed to go on a mission, the most wonderful smile came across his face! I wished I could have captured that smile on camera. It was so beautiful. It was almost as if Caden was saying, "Yeah dad, thank you for adding that part. I’m going on a mission for my Heavenly Father. That is one of the missions he has sent me here to perform." He seemed so very, very happy about that.
I hope I lived long enough to witness him going on his mission. It was a remarkable experience for me and one that I am glad to have witnessed. Sorry for peaking but I’m glad I did!
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