Ok, this one isn't about me praying for my children, but my child's prayer to God. See, over the last couple of weeks I have realized that my children's prayers have become very routine and "mundane." They always say the same 3 things...."help me and (insert sister's name here) not fight....thank you for everything you give us.....I'm sorry for when I am naughty." While these are not bad things to pray, I fear that they are simply going through the motions, not really thinking about what they're saying or understanding what those things imply. In an attempt to make them more "conscious" prayers, I stop them mid-prayer and ask them to expand on what they're saying. For instance: instead of saying, "help me and sister not fight", say what you need to do to prevent fights with said sister (and these are very different for each of them).....talk kindly (both), share toys (Lauren), don't do things to knowingly irritate the other (Emma), etc, etc.
So, tonight I was listening as Emma said her bedtime prayer. She got to the usual "sorry for when I am naughty" point and then stopped herself and began to list things she was actually sorry for. I was about to be impressed.....then she said, "sorry for....hitting...." I stop her and say, "Emma. You don't hit. Why are you saying sorry for hitting?" She replies, "Well, I know I don't hit, but just in case I ever do." *sigh* I ever-so-gently re-explain the point of this portion in the prayer and remind her that there are plenty of things that she actually does need to ask forgiveness for and that she doesn't need to be making things up. So, she starts up again and this time says, "I'm sorry for when I whistle for Jasmine (our dog) while Lauren is trying to pet her and I'm sorry that Jasmine comes." This covers the "doing things to knowingly irritate my sister" portion of the prayer. I just kept silent the rest of the prayer.
But you can bet that tonight I'll be thanking God for His sense of humor. :-)
3 comments:
I love your girls! I need to do the same when the kids pray (and even me as well!) to make sure it's not the same monotonous prayer with no heart for it. A very good reminder.
Well, Jonah's finally starting to pray on his own at meals "intelligently" (meaning without prompting and without just repeating the same thing over and over). I think what we really, really, really need to work on is having them say bedtime prayers. I think we tried that with Jonah at one time, but he was just too young...
I'd have a hard time helping Emma with that... I tend to think she's fairly amusing ;)
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