Night Time Prayer
It's one on my favourite parts of my day: saying night time prayers with the boys. And much like most of their child-like faith, their prayers amuse me, inspire me, and humble me.
It's usually the same order: Jake, Sean, then Gail and me. Jake loves to recite the Guardian Angel prayer...it's the one we needed to translate in our Child-Like Faith video. One year later, he's much more articulate and easy to understand, though a few of the longer words are still challenging to decipher.
Then it's Sean's turn. He really amazes me with the depth of his prayer, as it's not just "Thanks God for this and that." His prayers are detailed, genuine, and logical. For instance, yesterday we had a party for some of his school friends and he didn't just thank God for the party...he thanked God for getting them to the party safely. And he hoped that everyone had a good time. (This was in sharp contrast to when during the actual party...a typical greeting would be: "Hi Justin...thanks for coming. Did you bring me a present?"). AT other times, Sean will recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, or Glory Be. I know some youth ministers who get more nervous about leading prayer than Sean!
Then Daddy and Mommy get to wrap things up. Gail's prayers are beautiful in their simplicity, as she is used to praying with her grade 2 class. I try and keep things simple too, and almost "summarize" the day for the boys: thanking God for the gifts of family, love, friendship, and health among others.
In my prayer last night, I thanked God for the successful party and for the fact that all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, with our Nintendo Wii being one of the small reasons.
Sean innocently interrupted my prayer, saying "Yeah, thank you God for giving us the Wii."
While remembering that early May morning when I lined up outside Future Shop downtown, I politely responded "Actually, Sean, Daddy was the one who gave you the Wii. But God gave us life, the money to buy the Wii, and the ability to play it."
"No Dad...I'm thanking God for creating the Wii. Or else you wouldn't have been able to buy it."
I smiled and finished my prayer, before kissing the boys good night. Sean was right, and there was nothing I could do about it. Except to thank God once again for the gift of child-like faith.
It's usually the same order: Jake, Sean, then Gail and me. Jake loves to recite the Guardian Angel prayer...it's the one we needed to translate in our Child-Like Faith video. One year later, he's much more articulate and easy to understand, though a few of the longer words are still challenging to decipher.
Then it's Sean's turn. He really amazes me with the depth of his prayer, as it's not just "Thanks God for this and that." His prayers are detailed, genuine, and logical. For instance, yesterday we had a party for some of his school friends and he didn't just thank God for the party...he thanked God for getting them to the party safely. And he hoped that everyone had a good time. (This was in sharp contrast to when during the actual party...a typical greeting would be: "Hi Justin...thanks for coming. Did you bring me a present?"). AT other times, Sean will recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, or Glory Be. I know some youth ministers who get more nervous about leading prayer than Sean!
Then Daddy and Mommy get to wrap things up. Gail's prayers are beautiful in their simplicity, as she is used to praying with her grade 2 class. I try and keep things simple too, and almost "summarize" the day for the boys: thanking God for the gifts of family, love, friendship, and health among others.
In my prayer last night, I thanked God for the successful party and for the fact that all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, with our Nintendo Wii being one of the small reasons.
Sean innocently interrupted my prayer, saying "Yeah, thank you God for giving us the Wii."
While remembering that early May morning when I lined up outside Future Shop downtown, I politely responded "Actually, Sean, Daddy was the one who gave you the Wii. But God gave us life, the money to buy the Wii, and the ability to play it."
"No Dad...I'm thanking God for creating the Wii. Or else you wouldn't have been able to buy it."
I smiled and finished my prayer, before kissing the boys good night. Sean was right, and there was nothing I could do about it. Except to thank God once again for the gift of child-like faith.
posted by Clay at 1:10 AM
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