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Think On These Things Newsletter>
Children and the Power Of Prayer
January 8, 2007
As children begin to attend Sunday school and learn about
prayer, their young minds travel to a highly imaginative
realm of reason. At bedtime, it is common to pray for
everyone in the family, with the list normally extending to
pets and best friends, usually with a parent in attendance.
As children grow up they traverse the path to the
realization that prayers are effective, powerful, and
answered, even while selfish prayers are often ignored.
A trip to Nashville when our three boys were
between the ages of five and eight found us in a buffet
restaurant. As we always have, we bowed our heads as J.D.,
the youngest, counted off, and recited “God is great, God
is good, let us thank him for our food, amen” quietly to
ourselves at the table. We enjoyed our dinner, then asked
our waitress for the check.
The waitress told us a couple had seen us praying and were
adamant about paying for our meal. The couple told the
waitress they were impressed by our praying at a
restaurant. Seizing the opportunity, Cyndy and I explained
to the boys that even simple prayers, while not directly
answered, are certainly heard by God. Our simple act of
prayer which was natural to us had answered, on some level,
a prayer of the couple paying for our meal.
A few years later, in the latter elementary school years,
the social skills of the boys and their peers were
seriously in arrears. Despite our best efforts to start the
day off right, problems developed in the classrooms and
hallways of school. We returned again to the power of
prayer to turn the tide. When I dropped them off at school
or the summer program, we would bow our heads when we were
parked. I would pray, addressing, abstractly but pointedly,
the issues of concern.
“Lord, help us to go through the day as good Christians,
do what we’re supposed to do, treat others as we want them
to treat us, and have a great day. Amen.”
The prayer was followed by the “thumbs up” that replaced
“I Love You,” and my personal vocal suggestion that they
have a good day. Then they were off. Change came in small
increments, but came nonetheless. In time it occurred to
Conner, Cameron, and J.D. that with prayer and a little
effort on their part, the small problems of the day became
insignificant.
We don’t know what the future holds for the boys as they
mature and begin spending more time away from home. Upon
graduation from high school, the church involvement they
are enjoying now will become a memory as their church
involvement takes on a new role in, perhaps, a different
church. However, no matter what comes, or what lies ahead,
they will always know they have the power of prayer and
their relationship with God. With that, and some effort on
their part, hopefully they will always “have a great day.
Amen.”
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