10+ Lessons learned

Yesterday, I was taking care of my nephew and two neices (ages 3, 5, and 8). Each time we come to the table to eat, we pray together. There is usually an argument about who gets to say the prayer. So, Vanessa, the eight year old, suggested that we pray just like we did a while back, where we each say something and then tap the hand of the next person to continue the prayer while the last person is the one who ends it and says Amen. They all love this method praying. I agreed that we should do it and we began. Vanessa was first, but before she started, Talia, the five year old, reminded Vanessa that she should pray for the people in the ambulance we just heard off in the distance. So, the time came for Vanessa to start the prayer. She prayed for her pets at home, who are very dear to her, and she prayed for all of the sick people at the hospital. Then she whacked the table right in front of me hard enough to give me a start. I suppose to keep me on my toes! I prayed for the food the kids were going to eat. I thanked God for giving me the food so I could give it to the kids and I asked Him to help us have a great day with no fighting. I also asked Him to help us to learn more about Him in everything we did all day long. Then, I told Shane, the three year old, it was his turn to pray. He got a serious look on his face and said he wanted to say the "God is great prayer". I told him that was fine and so he began his little ritual. He said "God is great. God is good.", then he hit the table next to Talia for it to be her turn to pray. It kinda' through all of us off when he didn't finish the rest of the prayer we were so use to hearing and saying. But wasn't what he said enough? Now it was Talia's turn to pray as well as being the one to end our chain prayer. She prayed for her cat at home who had apparently ran off. She asked God to bring her cat back but wanted Him to make sure the cat treated her nice and had kittens for her to play with. She cried a little during her prayer. She said "Amen" and they all began to eat. Talia, then anounced that she forgot to pray about something. So, I told her to go ahead and pray. Amazingly, the other two stopped eating and sat quietly while she spoke to God. When she said "Amen", they began eating again. Children learn respect at a young age--if you teach them. After about a minute into breakfast, Talia announced that she forgot to pray for something else and asked me if it was ok if she prayed. I told her "Sure! God is always ready to listen and you can talk to Him anytime you want." What a lesson!

So, lessons learned yesterday:

1.) It is enough to proclaim "God is great. God is good."
2.) Respect during prayer to God is important.
3.) When you hear an ambulance, pray.
4.) You can talk to God as many times as you want. He's always ready to listen.
5.) Cats are important to someone.
6.) When you ask God to show Himself to you, He does.
7.) God hears your prayers but you need to fine tune your senses to make sure you don't miss
the answers.
8.) Where two or more are gathered in His name, He is there with them.
9.) Don't let yourself get so caught up in ritual that you miss out on the beauty of simplicity.
10.)There is nothing more beautiful than listening to children pour out their hearts to God!
11.)We should all want to pray bad enough that we argue over who gets to do it (so to speak).