prayer

I think there are probably many people who would say that they don't believe in God, but in a crisis, they pray.  Perhaps not so unlike those of us who profess to believe, yet in a crisis, our prayers attain a whole new level of urgency.  So this fact comes as no surprise to any parents out there: raising kids continues to teach us about prayer.

Other than robotically repeating what they have heard us pray many times (thanks for the food, thanks for this day), our kids have really yet to pray.  (or you might argue the exact opposite, that all of our prayers, even our adult prayers are so feeble that in comparison, the prayers of our children are as real as ours...)  So Brown and I were laying in bed the other night praying and his first original, heartfelt prayer was uttered. He had received a hand-me-down electric car that we were having trouble making work.  That night he said his first prayer: "Please let the car battery work."

Though I hope he, and I, begin to focus our prayer life more on others needs rather than our own, it was still heartening to see him make the connection of prayer to change. From the mouths of babes....