Every night when my husband and I put the kids to bed, we say our bedtime prayers. “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Thy love go with me through the night and wake me with the morning light.”
When my daughter was about 18 months old, we began to mix it up with a little Lord’s Prayer every now and then. After a few weeks, we thought it might be a good idea to say this prayer at least once a day, either at nap or bedtime. We let her pick which prayer she wanted to say before bed. And, like any wise toddler who doesn’t want to go to bed, she would often want to pray both prayers at night. When it comes to prayer, we always allow her to indulge, even it if pushes bedtime off a few minutes.
One night, I began to say the Lord’s Prayer but she stopped me, putting her hand over my mouth. I thought to myself, “Oh, great, she’s had enough. My two year old doesn’t want to pray. I’ve turned her off!” A few seconds later she said, “I don’t want you to pray, mama, I wanna do it!” She took her binky out of her mouth (an act almost never seen at bedtime in our home), folded her hands, and began to pray. She whispered the entire Lord’s Prayer—THE ENTIRE PRAYER! Sure, the words “trespasses” and “temptation” originally took on a whole new phonetic disposition, but the prayer that Jesus taught us bubbled up from the heart of a two-year-old girl. I was amazed.
I know full well I am not always the world’s best mother. And, I’m not supposing my daughter is any holier than any other child (see the first blog entry and add about six months of “terrible twos” stories as proof). My husband and I have simply tried to pass on to the girls what we know to be true and good: that the God who made them, who in Jesus Christ saved them, and who forgives their sins, loves them and will be with them always.
Children surprise us! From a very early age, they can understand God’s truth. They may not be able to explain the Trinity, rightly divide Law and Gospel, and distinguish the body in the Lord’s Supper. But, they can grasp the security we have in God’s love, the relief that forgiveness brings, and the concept of prayer—talking with God.
Parents can’t make their children faithful; I can’t even get my daughter to eat. We are simply to teach them. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.” God, who pours His Spirit over His children in baptism, pours out of them, too. And, before we know it, before we even think it is possible for them to express the faith, our little children teach us a thing or two about how God works!
PS...
I thought I'd share a little clip of Anna saying the Lord's Prayer. You can hear Lily, 5 months old, "praying" along with her in the background.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I got some flack on this video from a random YouTube user who told me that we are not supposed to forgive "trespassers" rather "debters" because the latter implied that the sinner was repentant. I'm sure I agree as I know bebters who don't really care that they "owe you" and are willing to ask for more. Regardless of the word you use in the Lord's Prayer, let's be extravagant with our forgiveness! Let's be like Christ who died to pay for our sins long before we asked for forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteEven when we are wronged greatly by people who will probably never apologize or own up to what they did, there is a freedom for us, in forgiving someone else. Let Jesus free you of the hate, bitterness, and anger. He has so much better in store for you!!!