Pray Out Loud
This week my kids were sent to the local museum for a full day program. About half way through the camp week my son, during dinner time, shared this with us:
Samuel: "Mommy, I almost forgot to pray during lunch at camp today"
Me: (looking for words to respond as I didn't see this coming)....
Sarah: "But you don't need to pray goh goh"
Samuel: (feeling frustrated) "But you do! I almost forgot but then I prayed"
Me: "Did you pray too Sarah?"
Sarah: (getting upset now) "No, because no one prays at day camp...you don't have to"
Samuel: "But you do!"
Sarah: "You don't!"
......
We pray before a meal because we want to teach our kids to be thankful and see this discipline inserted into the family routine as a way to develop thankful kids who acknowledge the True Provider of all...We pray before a meal to give us a pause before ingesting all the food because we need to remind ourselves God is the true provider.
One way to teach kids what prayer is, is to simply do it - to insert it into our family routine (e.g. meal prayers) but the kids constantly remind me that simply inserting these spiritual disciplines into our family routine will only develop what we already know - routines...with no development of understanding the true meaning of these disciplines and why we do them...eventually and hopefully, out of free will.
But how many times has my son agonized through prayer because, according to him, he is 'starving'.
And lately he has even asked me if it would be all right to skip prayer. And what does a 'sense of thankfulness' look like in a 4 or 6 year old?
We pray before a meal together as a family because we acknowledge God and His relationship in all our lives...as a unit.
What does family mean? As the family gets busier and busier I am finding the need to protect this minute in our daily lives. It is just too easy to tell the kids to pray on their own and in the process my fear is that we will be losing valuable lessons and experiences about community prayer.
We pray before a meal out loud as a way to not only talk with God but to share with each other what we are thankful about.
I find out all sorts of things when I hear my kids pray -- and each time I do I thank God for them, or I lift up a prayer to God as they pray. I believe they also discover things in us when we lead prayers.
But all of the above reasons (and I'm sure there are others) focus on prayer as a family - and while listening to my kids argue over whether one should/needs to pray during day camp I realized that we have really not talked about prayer in public and as a witness.
I smiled as I listened too - because I was reminded of all of us, and our journeys in understanding God and embracing the relationship He has freely granted to us.
Sarah reminds me of moments when I simply see God and anything to do with Him (e.g. prayer) as a routine, as a family tradition. It reminds me of moments in public when I wanted to blend in and rationalized personalizing my faith. It reminds me when I pray out of habit instead of thankfulness - when I'm 'starving' and want to just eat the food in front of me.
Samuel, on the other hand, reminds me of times when God was more important to me than anything else: my 'reputation', fitting in with the crowd, my hunger, etc. It reminds me of moments when I realize the power of witnessing to others what a true relationship with God means when I pray in public with no hesitation, no shyness.
The journey goes on and I know we will need more godly wisdom as we teach, model and live out prayer WITH our kids. But it also is a reminder that just as we face these challenges ourselves in our adult lives, our kids, in their world, face the same. They are not 'too small' to LIVE IT OUT LOUD too.
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| Lunch at Ikea - do we pray together or individually? |
Samuel: "Mommy, I almost forgot to pray during lunch at camp today"
Me: (looking for words to respond as I didn't see this coming)....
Sarah: "But you don't need to pray goh goh"
Samuel: (feeling frustrated) "But you do! I almost forgot but then I prayed"
Me: "Did you pray too Sarah?"
Sarah: (getting upset now) "No, because no one prays at day camp...you don't have to"
Samuel: "But you do!"
Sarah: "You don't!"
......
What is prayer after all?
What have we taught our kids about prayer?
Why do we say 'grace' (what does 'grace' mean to a 4 year old?) before every meal?
And why do we pray before lunch and dinner but sometimes rush through prayer in the rush of the morning breakfast?
And why doesn't mommy pray when we eat crackers, popsicles or ice cream?
Why do we pray out loud, together, when we are at home but sometimes when we are out in a restaurant with other friends and family we tell the kids to pray quietly?
We pray before a meal because we want to teach our kids to be thankful and see this discipline inserted into the family routine as a way to develop thankful kids who acknowledge the True Provider of all...We pray before a meal to give us a pause before ingesting all the food because we need to remind ourselves God is the true provider.
One way to teach kids what prayer is, is to simply do it - to insert it into our family routine (e.g. meal prayers) but the kids constantly remind me that simply inserting these spiritual disciplines into our family routine will only develop what we already know - routines...with no development of understanding the true meaning of these disciplines and why we do them...eventually and hopefully, out of free will.
But how many times has my son agonized through prayer because, according to him, he is 'starving'.
And lately he has even asked me if it would be all right to skip prayer. And what does a 'sense of thankfulness' look like in a 4 or 6 year old?
We pray before a meal together as a family because we acknowledge God and His relationship in all our lives...as a unit.
 |
| Sarah's drawing about "family dinner" |
What does family mean? As the family gets busier and busier I am finding the need to protect this minute in our daily lives. It is just too easy to tell the kids to pray on their own and in the process my fear is that we will be losing valuable lessons and experiences about community prayer.
We pray before a meal out loud as a way to not only talk with God but to share with each other what we are thankful about.
I find out all sorts of things when I hear my kids pray -- and each time I do I thank God for them, or I lift up a prayer to God as they pray. I believe they also discover things in us when we lead prayers.
But all of the above reasons (and I'm sure there are others) focus on prayer as a family - and while listening to my kids argue over whether one should/needs to pray during day camp I realized that we have really not talked about prayer in public and as a witness.
 |
| Playdate Lunch - pray together out loud? |
I smiled as I listened too - because I was reminded of all of us, and our journeys in understanding God and embracing the relationship He has freely granted to us.
Sarah reminds me of moments when I simply see God and anything to do with Him (e.g. prayer) as a routine, as a family tradition. It reminds me of moments in public when I wanted to blend in and rationalized personalizing my faith. It reminds me when I pray out of habit instead of thankfulness - when I'm 'starving' and want to just eat the food in front of me.
Samuel, on the other hand, reminds me of times when God was more important to me than anything else: my 'reputation', fitting in with the crowd, my hunger, etc. It reminds me of moments when I realize the power of witnessing to others what a true relationship with God means when I pray in public with no hesitation, no shyness.
The journey goes on and I know we will need more godly wisdom as we teach, model and live out prayer WITH our kids. But it also is a reminder that just as we face these challenges ourselves in our adult lives, our kids, in their world, face the same. They are not 'too small' to LIVE IT OUT LOUD too.
Romans 1:16 (NLT) "I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is the power of God. It is the way He saves men from the punishment of their sins if they put their trust in Him. It is for the Jew first and for all other people also."
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| Summer Family Reunion - grandma's side |
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