...meanwhile, we're having to institute some pretty heavy prayer restrictions at our house.
Greta's recently learned how to fold her arms and is pretty jazzed about participating in family prayer at mealtimes and bedtime. But, we're clearly not meeting her prayer needs--nor her zeal.
Inevitably, during dinner, she'll fold her arms, nod, and look between Jason and I until we do the same. Not wanting to discourage prayer, we went along with it for awhile. Three dinner prayers. Two lunch prayers. Several bedtime prayers.
Then, as she got more demanding, we decided we had to rein it in. "Sorry Greta, we only pray once at dinner." "No, we're not going to fold our arms right now."
Sometimes I cave. After she kept requesting prayers last night and I was refusing, she let out a pitiful "please?" Seriously? How can I resist that one year old 'please?' (Especially since it sounds like ''eeeeeesh'' and she says it in the back of her throat.)
The other night as we put her to bed, she was exceptionally hysterical. In an effort to thwart her screams, I started praying. It worked. Jason and I took turns, back and forth, back and forth. She folded her arms and would calm momentarily until the "amen." After 6 or 7 prayers and a remaining hysterical child, I just went with it. I started praying and you can bet I kept praying aloud until that child was good and asleep.
Which is also to say, we're praying for a lot of things these days and a lot of people by name (good thing this girl has lots of family!) If anyone else would like in on the prayer roll, we're happy to throw you on board.
We have realized today we may have done her a bit of a disservice. We tried to teach her that after we say "Amen," we don't need to fold our arms any more. So today at church after the "Amen" she knew the cue and would throw her hands up into the air. A-men!
Greta's recently learned how to fold her arms and is pretty jazzed about participating in family prayer at mealtimes and bedtime. But, we're clearly not meeting her prayer needs--nor her zeal.
Inevitably, during dinner, she'll fold her arms, nod, and look between Jason and I until we do the same. Not wanting to discourage prayer, we went along with it for awhile. Three dinner prayers. Two lunch prayers. Several bedtime prayers.
Then, as she got more demanding, we decided we had to rein it in. "Sorry Greta, we only pray once at dinner." "No, we're not going to fold our arms right now."
Sometimes I cave. After she kept requesting prayers last night and I was refusing, she let out a pitiful "please?" Seriously? How can I resist that one year old 'please?' (Especially since it sounds like ''eeeeeesh'' and she says it in the back of her throat.)
The other night as we put her to bed, she was exceptionally hysterical. In an effort to thwart her screams, I started praying. It worked. Jason and I took turns, back and forth, back and forth. She folded her arms and would calm momentarily until the "amen." After 6 or 7 prayers and a remaining hysterical child, I just went with it. I started praying and you can bet I kept praying aloud until that child was good and asleep.
Which is also to say, we're praying for a lot of things these days and a lot of people by name (good thing this girl has lots of family!) If anyone else would like in on the prayer roll, we're happy to throw you on board.
We have realized today we may have done her a bit of a disservice. We tried to teach her that after we say "Amen," we don't need to fold our arms any more. So today at church after the "Amen" she knew the cue and would throw her hands up into the air. A-men!
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