DEDICATE....

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)

Ellyana got dedicated yesterday, it was a beautiful service and we were grateful to have our family and friends there with us! Afterwards we had dinner at my parents house. It was really nice to have both families together. It doesn't happen to often, so we were really happy!

Last night, while everyone was sleeping I found myself thinking about what it really meant for us to dedicate Ellyana to the Lord. I know why we do it, but I never took the time to really think about what that meant to us as parents. ( I mean I guess I really wouldn't since this is the first time where I am the parent..lol ) I didn't want the dedication of Ellyana just to be something that we did because its expected, you know? So although maybe I did it a little backwards, I went on the computer to look up what the definition of dedicated is, and this is what I found:

ded·i·cate

 1. to set apart and consecrate to a deity or to a sacred purpose.

2. to devote wholly and earnestly, as to some person or purpose:

Wow, right? What an awesome responsibility! We stood up in front of our family, friends, and church family to declare that we will set Ellyana apart for GOD for a sacred purpose. After I got done contemplating that for awhile!, I then started thinking about how we do that. ( as you can imagine, I didn't get much sleep last night) Thats when I came across the verse above, Deuteronomy 6:65-7. Although I have heard this verse many, many times in the past, last night it took on a whole new meaning for me! And although I know there are many verses on raising a child in the ways of the Lord, for me, this one kinda summed it up;

1. I have to lead by example! To Love the LORD with all my heart, soul and strength
2. I have to continually impress upon my children the ways of the LORD.

I spent alot of time praying that the Lord would help us to be an example to Elly of living for the LORD, and that we would take the time for those "teachable moments," to use ever opportunity to guide her in the ways of the LORD!