Öhrn Life Management

When our son joined us in this world we wanted to give him a special welcome. Coming from a Christian background a natural (but not obvious) welcoming ceremony was a Christening.

So on a cold and snowy day in February last year we gathered friends and family to a the grandiose cathedral of Stockholm, Storkyrkan, to give him a warm welcome.

During the ceremony the pregnant priest (yes, we have female priests in Sweden) wondered if I would do the honour of pouring the water that was to be used to bless our son into the baptismal font. The priest explained that as water symbolises the gift of life, this was a most suitable task for the mother, having carried and protected the son in water for all those months during the pregnancy, preparing him for this life.

I do not know if it was the baroque setting of the cathedral or the grand words, but I had difficulties keeping the water in my eyes in the right place. Or maybe it was God?

Anyways, the wonder of the gifts that water brings really dawned upon me then and there. Protection, purity – life.

‘In the North water even brings light’, I thought as we left the church and the snow reflected the last rays of sunlight, making the daylight linger for longer in the Stockholm twilight.