the girl child came early to church

to help prepare the sanctuary

place the candles

put the ribbons into the book in the right places

place flowers in vases for the altar

she vacuumed and swept

even used Windex and newspaper on the stained glass windows that were low enough for her to reach

she pulled the empty silver insert out of the baptismal font

filled it with water

and brought it to the priest for a blessing

for that is how holy water gets its holiness,

but

the priest bent down

took the silver bowl of water from the girl child

and asked her to bless the water,

and the priest;

the girl child placed both of her hands into the water

and began to splash

and smile

and the blessing words that she spoke were,

“thank you, God, thank you”

and the splashing holy water landed on the girl child, and the priest, and the altar, and more