A Baptismal Talk

Over the weekend I was able to attend a baptism of a girl my family has helped bring the gospel to. It was such a sweet blessing to be able to see and to be able to feel the spirit that was present on that special day.

I was honored and surprised when she asked me to give the talk on baptism. I've only attended one other baptism that I can remember besides my own, and I was not paying attention to the talks in either mine or the one I attended. I had no idea what I was going to say. Obviously I have a testimony of this gospel, and I know baptism is a necessity for eternal life, but still, how do express all the knowledge you have on the subject to a sweet 10 year old? I asked my mom for some help and we started to brainstorm, we went on line and there was the idea to liken baptism to the story of Rapunzel. I decided to go with the idea and from there I wrote my talk. Afterwards I had a few requests of copies of the talk so I am putting it online so others can get the idea as well. So here it is.

"Once upon a time there was a princess who had forgotten who she really was. She was very kind and loved to read and draw. She also did lots of cleaning. Each year, she stayed up late into the night so she could gaze out her window as thousands of lights filled the sky. She couldn’t help but feel like they were for her.

This princess is Rapunzel.

 “Mikayla, we are all a lot like Rapunzel”

Like Rapunzel, we came to earth and forgot who we were. We see glimpses of our divine potential, but we don’t remember where we came from.

Later in Rapunzel’s story she finds out that she is a daughter of king.

Like Rapunzel, Mikayla you too are a daughter of a king. Your Heavenly Father loves and cares for you. He really misses you, and is glad you are making the choice to be baptized so you can live with him again.

Do you remember how I said that Rapunzel did a lot of cleaning? Today you too are doing some cleaning.

When Rapunzel cleaned her home, she dusted, mopped, and shined the windows. But the cleaning you are doing to day is much more important than the dust on the ground, today you are getting baptized. Today you are being made clean.  When you get baptized any and all of the mistakes that you have made are washed away. This is a beautiful gift from Heavenly Father.

For the past year, Mikayla you have been learning how to be a daughter of God.

You’ve been taught how to pray and read your scriptures and that this is how we communicate with our Heavenly Father.

With your choice to be baptized you are making special promises with your Heavenly Father, which are called covenants. Covenants are special because they are promises that we make with God. God cannot and will not break a promise he has made.

Today you are promising Heavenly Father that you will

-       Take Jesus Christ name upon you,

-       That you will always remember him,

-       That you will keep all of his commandments,

-       And that you will endure to the end.

Do you know what all of these mean?

To take upon you the name of Jesus Christ means that you represent Him. You are an example to those who do not know the special truths you know. When it is time for you to make decisions you need to remember and ask yourself “what would Jesus do?”

This has a lot to do with remembering him. Remember the sacrifice he made for each of us. He came to earth and lived a perfect life. He then suffered and died for each of us. He knows what trials you will go through and he has made it possible for us to over come.

We’ve been given certain commandments that we must keep in order to live with him again. A commandment is something that God has asked us to do. Like, to pray everyday, to go to church and love our families. There are a lot more commandments and as you continue to study your scriptures and go to church you will learn about them.

The last covenant you make is to endure to the end. Our Heavenly Father sent us to earth, knowing it would be hard. Things happen in life that can make it very difficult. Sometimes we make choices that end up hurting us. But Heavenly Father did not send us here to fail. He sent us here with a plan to get back home. We came to this earth to learn, and when we endure to the end we learn the lessons necessary to live with God again. Enduring to the end has everything to do with having Faith that God loves you and is aware of you and has a specific plan for you. Mikayla when life gets hard, do not give up, push on and you will be able to overcome.

Mikayla as we make these promises with God he promises us that we can always be forgiven when we repent. He gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost that will help guide you. And he promises that we can live with him again. This is our Happily Ever After.

Along the way to this Happily Ever After you will make mistakes. We all make mistakes; it is part of the learning process. Right after you are baptized you will be clean, with no mistakes, but you will maybe make a mistake very soon after, does this mean that you need to be baptized again? No it does not. Heavenly Father knows we will mess up, so he allows us to repent. When we take the sacrament we will be as you are today. Clean. When you take the sacrament you re-promise the promises you are making today.

Mikayla I’d like to leave you with my testimony. I asked you yesterday if you are nervous and you said you were. I want you to really know that you have nothing to be worried about nothing to be nervous for but you have everything to be excited for. Heavenly Father loves you. He is cheering you on. (Bare the rest of your testimony)"

Mikayla and Brian (Big-B)