Praying Like A Four-Year-Old
James has discovered some new and unusual uses for prayer.When we put him to bed at night he always wants to pray first. Often he uses this time as a day-extender. To wit: "...and thank you for my clock, and thank you for my Mickey Mouse drawing, and thank you for...umm...my clock..." Etc.
Sometimes he uses prayer to make a point. One night recently he was throwing a fit about which sheets Lisa put on his bed. He didn't want his Spider-Man sheets but that's what he was getting. He gets very upset about these things when he is very tired. So he prayed, "Thank you for Mommy, thank you for Daddy, thank you I be nice to Tabby (that's a standard), and thank you I don't want my Spider-Man sheets, and thank you..." See? Just throwing it in, seeing if anyone's listening.
Sometimes there's a little chastisement in his prayer. Sunday night, Mom and Rich came over to watch baseball. Rich was there to watch baseball and so James played with Mom most of the night. All of us gathered around his bed for prayers. "Thank you for Mommy, thank you for Daddy, thank you I be nice to Tabby, thank you for Grandma, thank you for Uncle Richard, thank you Uncle Richard not playing with me, thank you Grandma playing with me, ..."
He cracks us up, but sometimes we wonder if he's cracking God up. I think he probably is. Listening to his prayers gives me two thoughts about my own prayer life. There are times when my own prayers sound like an indictment of others, including God Himself. When I put myself above other people, even above God--and admit it, we all do it sometimes--my prayers lose focus and the motives behind them become all wrong. But I also believe that our prayers could loosen up sometimes, that God wants to hear OUR voice, not the voice we think HE wants to hear. We've come a long way from the "guide, guard, and direct us down the uneven pathways of life" prayers that I grew up hearing. I seldom hear a "Thee" or a "Thou" in public prayer anymore. But I really believe that my prayers are the best when they are from the heart, when it is just Steve talking to God.
So I don't correct James very often. I just let him keep on teaching me.
posted by Thurman8er @ 12:34 PM
1 Comments:
Have I mentioned how your boy cracks me up? I love being his music teacher in pre-school.
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