6/13/09
A Child's Prayer
My youngest child has a unique way of saying grace in the evening. Instead of the usual requests and thanks, she thanks God for everything, even the things that are yet to come. An average prayer from her goes something like this:
"Thank you for the food, and for making the food, and for everyone that maked the food, and thank you for my sisters not to hurt me, even though I might be mean to them, and- Hey! You're not holding my hand!- and thank you for us to have a bright sunny day tomorrow and thank you for us to all be nice to everybody and..."
Somewhere around that point, dinner's aroma wafting up to our noses temptingly, we place a fork in her hand and shout "Amen!", just so that we may partake of the meal. I often feel guilty for cutting her short, but hey, dinnertime is important, right?
But there's a bit of a good lesson to be had in her prayer. Not that the confused words of my child are something incredibly profound, (I hope I will never be arrogant enough to think like that!) but there is something to learn in nearly every part of our lives. She thanks God for things that are yet to come, and she does it with the perfect faith that those things will happen! Just like the story in 2 Chronicles 20, where the army of Israel marched into battle with musicians as their advance guard, trusting God for the blessing to come. This is just one of the examples of childlike faith that we lose as our logical adult minds take over.
So, instead of the pleas and complaints and tentative requests and guilty self-recriminations of my usual prayers, today I'm going to try praying like my baby does;
Thank you for the food that is on our table today, and thank you for what is going to be there tomorrow and the next day. Thank you for my family, that they are kind and sweet no matter how cranky I am. Thank you for my job, my car, the sunshine outside, the rain and the dew and the strange next door neighbor who shoves Chapstick through her screen window. Thank you for the things that will happen tomorrow, whether they are good or bad. Thank you, in advance, for whatever happens in my life.
