How old were you in your first memories of prayer? Do you remember who taught you what to do or what to say in prayer? For many of us, prayer is such a deeply ingrained behavior that it is hard to imagine having ever NOT done it. My only early memories of prayer involve grudgingly kneeling next to my little twin bed and mumbling “now I lay me down to sleep” whilst thinking how unfair it was that my big sister got to stay up longer than me!
Teaching my children to pray is not something I addressed as I prepared myself to begin the journey of motherhood. I’m not sure how I assumed they would learn, but it certainly never dawned upon me until recently that I will be the one to teach them! Of course, the reality is that in most cases children will ultimately work out their own manner of communicating with the Divine. Until then, though, how do we even begin to teach them to open the dialogue?
This all comes to mind now as I recently witnessed my 2 year old son’s interpretation of pre-dinner prayer. We have always made it a habit to join hands and say grace before digging in to our meals, and it has been something of a struggle to get him to join in (how dare we place food in front of him but not let him at it?!?). In the last few weeks, though, he has been a willing participant. A recent sneaky peek at him in prayer revealed a deeply bowed head and VERY furrowed brow, which nearly made me laugh out loud. Who or what gave him the idea that prayers need be so severe, even arduous?
While it is a sweet and comical image for me, I can’t help but wonder if my husband or I could be the examples of this severity. I have tried to give witness to my own actions over the last several meals, and to my chagrin I find there ARE times when I feel my brow furrowing and my frown lines deepening as we say grace. Aha! So now I see where he got it—the question is where did I get it? Do I feel that prayer is a labor? Like many habitual patterns, I seem to have fallen into this one unawares.
I have taken this mirror held up by my son as a challenge to really be in the moment of prayer. Instead of bowing my head and furrowing my brow to say a quick grace (maybe I’m guilty of being in a hurry for dinner!) or hurry through my daily prayers I have challenged myself to really witness the dialogue taking place. It is my hope that by doing so I can create an example for my son of what a joyful experience prayer can be.
What has been your experience with leading children into dialogue about God? What has it helped you to learn about yourself? Please comment and share your experiences!
1 comments:
Mother and I had been praying for as long as I can remember. One day, when I was little, we were in a state park restaurant. I pointed out to Mother that, strangely enough, another table with lots of people also had their heads bowed.
Mother said that they were the Gideons and explained what they do. Afterwards, Mother told them that I had noticed, and they put their heads together and handed me one of my first Bibles.
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