Monday, June 6, 2011

Beginning to Pray

(The articles usually found at this site are generally written by Kristina, the Early Childhood Minister at All Saints' Church . Kristina is traveling so this summers articles will be written by Michelle, the Children and Youth Minister at All Saints' Church .)


Prayer and quietness are traits not highly regarded in most of our society. Prayer and quietness are valuable to not only adults, but to very young children. The only way to learn to pray and to be quiet is to practice. Children wont do this on their own they have to be led, shown and taught. Prayer before each meal and before bed are a long standing tradition. this may be because those are the times when children are most receptive to it. They are willing to pray if it means they can then start eating and they are willing to pray if it means they can postpone lights out at bedtime just a little longer. No matter their motiviation, it is good to start a habit of prayer.

Several years ago I was at a kindergarten birthday party with a bouncy house, one of those inflatable houses that everyone goes in and jumps until someone is crying. A little girl became upset at some kindergarten level injustice involving the bouncy house. She left the house and laid on the grass crying and generally having a fit. Her father approached her and quietly said something in her ear, she talked to him through her tears for just a couple of minutes and then I saw them sitting together being quiet. The little girl was holding her hands in her lap and breathing deeply. It looked to be some kind of practiced way of calming herself, of bringing herself under control, of exercising self control. Clearly this was something that her father had taught her. I don't know if they prayed or were just being quiet, but it helped her quickly return to the party. It allowed a bad situation to be reversed, it kept things in perspective.

That father did not wait for the crisis to teach his daughter how to handle a situation that she preceived as bad. He prepared her ahead of time and then reminded her at the time and sat with her while she regrouped. That is much like what we should do with prayer. We can't wait until a crisis to teach our children the comfort of prayer or the practice of prayer; instead we should pray with them everyday to make a it a reaction that they can go to with only a gentle reminder from us. The hope is that someday they will pray even without that parental reminder.

Start today to pray with your children. It is an investment of time that will reap untold rewards.

Michelle

1 comment:

  1. For parents and grandparents alike. Teaching the practice of prayer leads them to what should be a very important part of their life in faith. It will be a comfort for parents to know their children have the experience of taking it all to their Lord in prayer. Great tool for living. Thank you

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