Recently, one evening, as I was putting Nikolas to bed, he folded his little hands together and said, "Pray Mama, me pray." So I folded my hands and closed my eyes and listened as my little man talked to Jesus.
He said, "Jesus; Mama, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, Amen." That was it. Sweet and simple yet full of meaning. Though I imagine he was thanking God for the people in his life, I don't really know what was going through his 2 1/2 year old mind. The wonderful thing, though, is that Jesus knew exactly what Nikolas was saying. "for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts." 1 Chronicles 28:9 It is strange to think that there is One who knows my son better than I do.
A few nights later I was again putting him to bed when he folded his hands and stated he wanted to pray again. I followed his lead and he started talking to Jesus. This time it went like this: "Jesus; Thomas, Gordon, Henry, James, Edward, James, THOMAS. Amen."
For those of you with little boys of your own, you know exactly who he was praying for.....
His trains:)
I couldn't help but smile as I sat there in the dark with him. At first it might seem materialistic to be praying for toys, but to a 2 year old, those trains aren't toys, they are friends. After he finished I said, "Nik that was very kind of you to pray for your friends. We all need to pray for each other."
Children have such a simple way of reminding adults of what is important, and that is: relationships. That was and is what is important to Jesus as well. I need to keep that in the forefront of my mind more often as I tend to get caught up in all my lists of To Do's. I especially need to remember the relationships right under my own roof, though they are sometimes the ones which are easiest to put off. Sad how that happens; the ones we love the most are the ones we hurt the most.
Thanks for the lesson on love, Nik.
It looks like I will be learning a lot from my children, funny, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.
4 comments:
I love kid prayers. Ben also just states names and sometimes toys. Sometimes he expands to the weather, the tree, everything in his sight. When we pray with them and say thank you to Jesus for the day, our family, our home, our food, etc... I think they are also getting the idea that in all things they can give thanks!!
PS: Little boys are sweet!
Eli wanted to pray at dinner the other night....it went: "Jesus....(pause)was born.....(pause)..in a nest. amen. Hey, it looks like a nest, I get that.
Yes, little boys are definitely sweet, RuthAnn:)
And Shawna, I burst out laughing at Eli's prayer! Never thought about the manger looking like a nest, but it really does.
Hee hee...what a sweet boy.
We pray about toys a lot at our house too. It feels funny to me too sometimes, but I figure I don't ever want to discourage my kids from bringing whatever is on their hearts before the Lord. So if toys are on their hearts, we pray about toys!
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