This week at my small group bible study we talked about being a godmother and what that meant. (we are a group of all moms). I am ashamed to say I’m an awful godmother. Horrible. The last time I saw my godchild I said something about “you know who your godmother is right?”. She didn’t know! And it’s totally all my fault. I don’t send her cards like I should. I don’t call her on her baptismal birthday. Bad.
So we were talking about ways we can be more active godparents. I feel really motivated to reach out to my god daughter with some of these ideas…. I thought I would share some of what we talked about 🙂
1. Celebrate their baptismal birthday.
Seems simple enough. Maybe it’s just something simple like a card, phone call or a small gift. Or maybe you invite your godchild out for dinner and let them pick where they would like to go. But the most important part is to remind them of what baptism is and that you are someone special in their life.
2. Buy them their first bible and cross. Pretty self explanatory.
3. Seek out service opportunities to participate in together.
For me, this really tied back into Owens legacy. Service. Spreading the word about hope and turning something horrific into a blessing. Seeing the good in all. Giving. I might not be able to save someone’s life as literally as my son has done. But I can do my best to teach the future of the world how to love one another and how to take care of one another. Serve. Besides … You never know when you might find yourself in need. Don’t you want there to be someone who cares enough to serve you in your time of need?
Tangent …. This makes me think about how quickly humans are to pray or call out for help when they are at the bottom. When they have lost what they have, that’s when they seek God and others. What about the other days? I think it’s just as important to call out thanks in times of bounty and health. Just as you always have more to give. Even if your life has fallen apart … There is someone else who is worse off. I was ejected out of a car at the age of 21. I was given flight for life and the whole nine yards. I spent six miserable weeks flat on my back. I missed out on my first semester of my senior year in college because I was in a wheelchair and had a catheter. I was miserable. Sad. Depressed. Angry. Needing to understand why me. What did I do to deserve this sentence. I have my thoughts as to why I was allowed to go though that experience but that’s a whole other story. The part that I don’t share often about this story is how my mom sat beside my hospital bed every night. My dad helped to and from the bathroom when at home. My sister and brother visited as often as they possibly could. They even brought me a cream puff from the state fair. My room was filled with flowers and my walls were decorated with cards. I was one of the lucky ones. Thats right -lucky. I wasn’t alone. Think of those who go through something like that without anyone. Or those who aren’t able to walk again. I was one of the lucky ones. I was the blessed one. I need to remember to still be thankful. Don’t take this six year old gift for granted. Call out my thanks even in time of despair. There is always someone out there who has it worse off than you.
4. Talk about god. Say his name.
5. Stay in their lives. Seek them out.
It doesnt have to be anything huge. But spend one on one time with them. Ask them open ended questions and really listen. They pick up on if you are being genuine. Find something you like to do together.
I’m going to start by making sure I have her birthday on my calendar and I have to dig up her baptismal day. She’s almost in middle school now …. Gasp! So I’m going to have to work on it. Ut I’m going to do if!
Are you a god parent? Are there special things you do? I’d love to hear more ideas.
Love, Mel
I am a Godparent. We try to do as much as we can as godparents. He is only 3 years old and they live in Austin, so it is hard to get to them then if they were down the street. We have done a few out of these, when possible, but the ones we don’t do I will definitely look into it.
This is the first time we are Godparents, and have no idea what to do. We have not been able to have kids of our own, so I don’t even know what a kid likes, but we just go with a flow. Then soon we are going to be Godparents for the second time. Now this has got me thinking, but in a good way. Thanks for the help.
I see my 3-yr-old Goddaughter at least once a month through Skype (she lives in Spain, we’re in California). I’ve made it a point to ask her mom (my cousin) about important dates (such as her 1st day of preschool) and I stock up on greeting cards for those occasions (the 99-cent Hallmark ones are great for this). She also loves any doodle that my oldest son has created for her (often I’ll scan it and email it to her parents). They came to visit us this summer to celebrate our sons’ Baptisms (my cousin and her husband are the Godparents for one of our babies), and I’m putting together a small scrapbook for her of our families.
I just became a godmother for the first time in August. I was thinking earlier this week how I haven’t done anything for her since the baptism, and then I read this blog! Thanks for getting the gears moving, and starting a conversation around it. 🙂
My cousin is a godmother and for each baptisimal birthday for her god daughter she buys a pearl, that way she will have a string of real pearls when she grows up.
My son’s godmother bought him a toolbox for his baptism because Jesus was a carpenter. She is planning to buy him a tool on his baptisimal birthday every year.
I am a godparent to three children and hallmark makes a godchild ornament and every year its different, so I have bought them one every year for Christmas.
Great post Mel!
these are amazing ideas! I love them. Thanks for sharing!
I am a godmother, but If you dont mind I would like to share this…. i think it is important for others to read. You gave me a lot of insight on what else I could do and how important it is…. Thank you for your words….
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Of course you may share … I’m honored!
Melissa Bissing bissingfamily.com
Sent from my iPad.
The thing my godmother does faithfully is to send my birthday card. It always has the date and my name written in it (as well as a small gift of money until I was 18). It is not my birthday until i have her card. I know it doesn’t seem like a huge thing, but it really makes my year to know that all these years later she still loves and cares for me.
I am a God-Mother to a 5 yr old boy (a family friend’s son) and I have been in his life since day one. I didn’t find out who my God-Parents were until I was about 18 years old. Until then, I had never even thought I had God-Parents and I didn’t want my God-Son growing up not knowing who his God-Mother was. Here are some things I do with him:
1. I reach out to him as often as I can. Sometimes we skype. Once every couple of months I bring him to my house for a few days. I live in Pennsylvania, and he lives in New York.
2. I call him for every holiday and birthday. (Christmas, Easter, New Year’s etc.)
3. I make him an easter basket every year and fill it with bible stories and other little things.
4. I taught him how to pray, and now everytime before bed he asks “Can we talk to God?”
That’s pretty much the basics. The best advice I can give is to just reach out to them, even if it’s just occassionally.