Throughout the holiday season, I do a lot of cooking and baking, and I’m sure you do, too. My kitchen is well stocked with needed utensils that I use daily, plus a few that I have never used, but I use my Dad’s wooden spoons every day, all year long.

My father, Keith Young, went to heaven in 2012. He was a farmer, an incredible mentor, and a great craftsman. In the winter, he loved to work with wood. He made dressers, stools, bookcases, children’s furniture — and he loved to carve spoons. Each time someone came to visit he’d give them a spoon. When Scott, our kids, and I went home to the farm, he’d ask me if I wanted another spoon. Of course, I did! I have quite a collection (see photo for a few of them), and I cherish them all.

I love my Dad’s wooden spoons. I treat them special because he formed them with his own hands and branded them as his own. In a similar way, God treats us very special. He formed us and made us His own in baptism. 

… then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Genesis 2:7).

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).

In baptism, we have His cross on our forehead and on our heart. We are His. Let’s treat our bodies with respect because God formed us with His own hands. Let’s thank God for our earthly fathers and our heavenly Father today, and into the New Year!

Today, and always, we are surrounded by HIS grace,

Debbie