She is Best (On Being Best)

She is Best. 

A daughter turns twenty-two. When she was small, for reasons having to do with musical theater, great books, and other mysterious influences, she gained the monicker “Is Best.” Happy is the child whose parents see her and immediately sing: “she is best.”

At least we hope so.

Initially her other siblings, justifiably, demanded an explanation. Were we saying this child was best of all the children? Their mother knew the answer to this! She was the best at being just the child she was. Initially that worked, though the more puckish noted that everyone was best this way.

Just so, but this was not as “nothing” as they might have thought. In God’s good created order, there are souls waiting to be born and these souls fill a role in the plan. Each of us is best at our part. Nobody is unneeded, unnecessary, or dispensable, but all of us can choose what to do with this situation. We can react with love or hatred to those around us. We can act as heroes, being virtuous, or villains, rejecting virtue. To be best is not to be good, but a perfect fit for the situation.

Thank God we see this particular adult choosing to be best at her role by being good in God.

On Baptism, Being the Best, and Adulthood 

Looking at our young baby, baptized into the covenant community of the people of God, we also saw an image of God. When I saw her with her mother, there was an image of the Mother of God with the Holy Infant. When she grew in grace and favor with God and man, she was an image of the Holy Child. When she married, she was an image of the Bride of Christ. Only she could be this particular icon, she is best. As time passes, as her mother and I fade while she grows brighter, she is an image of the new order, the change of seasons, that points humanity toward the end of time.

One advantage of coming to God at a birth, being renewed and then confirming that gift by adult consent is that our need for God, our human brokenness, is never the focus. We needed God and God came in the person of Jesus Christ. That is enough. What humanity was in Adam is redeemed from the start and consent, the sweet liberty of personhood, becomes the choice of our child. The focus is always on the goodness of God, the hope we have in Christ.

As her parents we know we fail: we fall short in our behavior, sin. This child who is best as she grew to adulthood may also have chosen poorly. When she was a child, we guided, firmly in charity.

That is between her and her pastor! One joy of seeing her grow up into the role God designed is that we, as her parents, move into the role of confirming and affirming what God is doing when asked. As a baby, we began (with so many errors!) to guide her toward not needing us. If she began with a duty to be obey, every year this transformed more into honoring what she can in us. Our focus should not every have been her submission, but her gaining autonomy. As a child, she had to obey to learn, at first trusting her parents, soon participating with us in learning, finally taking over fully with mentors she chose as she went off to college.

She is best at being who God made her to be and now her mother and I pray for her soul, support the good she does, and are here to help as she asks. Happy birth “She is Best.”