An Inkling
How do you learn to pray?
We learn some through instruction, but we learn prayer best by praying,
and then by paying attention to the answers.
That’s been happening in a wonderful way in one of our
children’s classes. Gilpin Brown sent me
some pictures of this class that I didn’t fully understand, and so I wrote his
wife, Pam, the teacher, to find out what was happening. Here’s what she wrote:
Each Sunday I begin the class with prayer and ask each
child one thing they are thankful for, and then ask for anything they might
want to ask God for. When they give
prayer requests, I write the child’s name and request on a colored strip
of paper. These strips go in the prayer basket and then we pray. Each week we begin by seeing what God has done
that week – I read the requests and the child who made the request tells us if
God has answered it yet, or if we need to keep praying. (I teach that He always hears and answers,
but His answers can be yes, wait for my timing, or no.) If the prayer was answered (and obviously many
are !!!), the child who made the request adds the strip to the chain and we
watch it grow week by week! When we hit
100, I made a big deal out of it and we paraded with our chain outside and in
the sanctuary, stopping to thank God along the way – and Gilpin came to take
photos.
I’ve read some
good books on prayer, with very helpful insights. But Pam and the kids are teaching us some
facets of prayer that the books cannot:
simplicity, persistence, and celebration. Thanks to Pam and her kids! And let’s follow their lead.
Blessings!
Keith
