Praying as They Grow
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[1 Comment]Like many expecting mothers, I started reading parenting books while pregnant in preparation for all the trials and tribulations I knew would be coming after the birth of our son. One of the books I discovered was on praying for your child. In it there was a list of prayers that focused on praying about a different part of the child's body. As soon as Nikolas was born I copied the prayers down on index cards, adding his name in the blanks to personalize them.
Every night I would work my way through the stack, praying one of the prayers as part of Nikolas' bedtime routine. As soon as he was old enough to talk, he added his own "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" prayer with a laundry list of relatives and friends to bless. After several years though, both our prayers became rote.
I often found myself having to remind Nik to slow down and think about the people he was praying for. "You are asking God to bless these people, not running through your addition tables." I wanted the prayer to come from his heart, not out of habit.
As soon as Nik learned to read, I realized it was time to help him learn how to pray more fully for himself. I went to the bookstore in search of a book of prayers for early readers. I found several children prayer books, but most of them were thematic—featuring one prayer for bedtime, one for mealtime, and one for when a friend was sick. Many included famous prayers that were written in a very sing-song rhyming style. I was hoping to find prayers that had a more general theme that could be used every day, and were formatted in a way that encouraged a more conversational style of prayer.
I came back home a little discouraged, but also motivated. Perhaps, I could come up with some prayers that would better meet my expectations. Since I wanted to keep it on a beginning reader level, I picked up Nik's children's Bible. I started in Proverbs and picked out "wisdom" nuggets I thought were most relevant to his life and the values I hoped to instill. I copied each one on a card and added a short related prayer.
Here's a sample:
Bible verse: The Lord watches a man's ways. He studies all of his paths. Proverbs 5:21 (NIV)
Prayer: Thank you God for always watching over me. Even when I make mistakes, I can be sure that you love me and will help me. I ask you to forgive me for the times I have made bad choices. I know that the next time I have a hard choice to make, I can ask you to guide me.
The first time Nik went through each prayer card, they sounded a little stiff. I don't think there was much reading comprehension occurring. Soon, though, the verses and prayers became more familiar and Nik was able to tell me what the theme was. Since I don't want these prayers to get tiresome, I continue to add new ones based on the Psalms, the teachings of Jesus and Paul's letters to the church. Over time he'll have a good variety of verses and prayers to draw from. After he masters this type of prayer, I hope to give Nik a verse to study and see if he can create his own prayer based on it—but that is probably still a few years away.
Related Topics:
Authenticity
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Rachelle Wooten
I love this idea! I can't wait to try it!
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