The prayer of a six year old, car keys and all.
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 6:17 pm
One day our 6 year old daughter enters the kitchen area where her mother and I are. She has a look on her face like there is a lump in her throat. My wife asks her whats wrong. Apparently she can't find her dance shoes for dance class. In her little world this is somewhat serious.
She blurts out, "I prayed so I could find them and they're not anywhere". She is pretty upset now so my wife tries to calm her and talk to her about where the shoes might be.
We have never taught our kids to pray for lost items. Honeslty, we don't pray that often, so this must have been her own initiative in action. My wife is luke warm with the church. Being a bit of a non believer, I knew better than to try and stick my nose into this situation. I felt bad though :(
Our daughter went off to look for her shoes again.
In a few minutes she came back again, now crying.
"Mom, I prayed again to find my shoes and it didn't work!" Big tears this time. This is hard to watch! What do you say? I'm almost a little angry now, kinda thinking - hey God, if you're out there you could throw my daughter a bone. She's sincere, and praying twice in a row was completely her idea - faith of a mustard seed ya know? I'm also wondering why we set up our kids for failure like this?
My wife went off with my daughter to help with her shoes but didn't broach the prayer subject. I continued fixing dinner. My wife re enters the kitchen. I stay busy and try to avoid eye contact. Those of you in a believer/non believer household might understand!
I can feel my wifes eyes drilling a hole in my back, so I finally turn and look at her. She has a solid frown on her face with a touch of a smirk as well. "What?" I exclaim, "I didn't say anything". The expression was priceless. It kinda acknowledged her frustration with the seemingly worthless nature of prayer!
I guess in closing, this probably isn't one of those "found car keys" stories you could hear in fast and testimony meeting. Talk about being at a loss for words. Neither my wife nor I had any idea what to say when this happenned, just say nothing and go look for the shoes.
P.S When I mentioned we don't pray frequently I was reminded of a time my MIL came over for dinner. This same 6 year old daughter said at the table, loud enough for all to hear, "Why do we only pray when grandma comes over"? - again, at a loss for words! Ha ha.
She blurts out, "I prayed so I could find them and they're not anywhere". She is pretty upset now so my wife tries to calm her and talk to her about where the shoes might be.
We have never taught our kids to pray for lost items. Honeslty, we don't pray that often, so this must have been her own initiative in action. My wife is luke warm with the church. Being a bit of a non believer, I knew better than to try and stick my nose into this situation. I felt bad though :(
Our daughter went off to look for her shoes again.
In a few minutes she came back again, now crying.
"Mom, I prayed again to find my shoes and it didn't work!" Big tears this time. This is hard to watch! What do you say? I'm almost a little angry now, kinda thinking - hey God, if you're out there you could throw my daughter a bone. She's sincere, and praying twice in a row was completely her idea - faith of a mustard seed ya know? I'm also wondering why we set up our kids for failure like this?
My wife went off with my daughter to help with her shoes but didn't broach the prayer subject. I continued fixing dinner. My wife re enters the kitchen. I stay busy and try to avoid eye contact. Those of you in a believer/non believer household might understand!
I can feel my wifes eyes drilling a hole in my back, so I finally turn and look at her. She has a solid frown on her face with a touch of a smirk as well. "What?" I exclaim, "I didn't say anything". The expression was priceless. It kinda acknowledged her frustration with the seemingly worthless nature of prayer!
I guess in closing, this probably isn't one of those "found car keys" stories you could hear in fast and testimony meeting. Talk about being at a loss for words. Neither my wife nor I had any idea what to say when this happenned, just say nothing and go look for the shoes.
P.S When I mentioned we don't pray frequently I was reminded of a time my MIL came over for dinner. This same 6 year old daughter said at the table, loud enough for all to hear, "Why do we only pray when grandma comes over"? - again, at a loss for words! Ha ha.
