Day 196 - Communion

Today was a bit of an emotional day for me.  The church that I attended growing up and even attended most of my adult life, communion was served every Sunday.  Only people who accepted Christ and were baptized could take it.  When we started attending Central here in Athens last year, it took some getting used to only taking communion once a month.  I do not believe either way is wrong or right as far as how often.  I will say taking it once a month rather then weekly has helped me not take the meaning for granted and I take this time more seriously then I did when I took it weekly.  However, the bigger difference for me was that at Central, anyone can take communion, children, baptized or not.  Many of the children take it there and Hadley has been asking to take it as well.  Communion is not to be taken lightly, it is such a contemplative, serious moment between a person and God.  Josh and I talked a lot about whether we should let Hadley take it.  We both felt the maturity wasn't there as to really understanding it, so we had her wait.  She kept persisting on taking it, and today Josh let her.  We walked up, she watched her dad take it, she took it, I took it, and while I watched her take the bread and the juice and she listened to the people serving it, I couldn't help but tear up.  We walked back to our seats and she sat on her daddy's lap and he explained what we did and what we do when we come back to our seats, which is to pray, reflect, think about what Jesus did for us on the cross. I looked over and she had her eyes tightly closed, hands folded, she was praying.  As I was sitting there at first wondering if she really is "ready" to take it, I realized that and asked myself if I really "get it".  I mean, really, the vastness of God is something that we can probably never fully grasp.  I am in need of my Saviour every single day, coming before Him taking communion is something that reminds me of what He did for me.  How am I any different from my 7 1/2 yr. old daughter? She is in need of our Saviour, she knows that He died for her.  At that moment, I stopped questioning our parenting on if we did the right thing.  Instead, I thanked God for this moment, thanked Josh for being such an amazing father who knows just what to do and say at just the right time.  I was overwhelmed with emotion.  I am thankful for this moment in church today.  I later asked Hadley what she thought about communion today, at first as any child would say, "I thought it tasted good."  :) She then said, "I prayed and thanked Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins."  My heart is full and for that I am thankful.