Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Really Effective Prayers

From time to time people ask me about prayer. Usually it is fairly cynical; why should I waste my time talking to HIM???? What did HE ever do for me? It is good to get away from the adults who have anger issues. Listen to the children.

I have tried to listen to Jesus. He was into really simple prayers. Read Matthew 6 or Luke 11. We call it the Lord's prayer but it is really the disciple's prayer. (The Lord's prayer is in John 17. It is advanced theology so stay away from it until you are grown up...maybe 25 or 63.) Disciples should pray really simple prayers. And these are really simple prayers. "God is great and merciful. God cares about what we need. He wants us to love each other and care for the people in need. He wants us to cheer for Him and the hard job He has."

So I listen to children. They haven't made God a cosmic bellhop yet. They still see Him as someone to be manipulated but they are polite and respectful; for the most part. They have good simple prayers:

Hi !!

Thank you !!

Help me !!

Fix this !!

WOW !!

Some people think this is too simple. I think we have made prayer too hard. Just talk to God and then listen. Pretend he is a grandfather. Grandfathers have all kinds of time to listen and they never judge. They made all their terrible mistakes with their kids and they are making up with the grandkids.

One of my grand daughters was trying to read "The Lord of the Rings." She is only 9. Tough going even for an advanced 9 year old. So I told her about Frodo and the ring. I talked to her about Gollum. We talked about Elves and Orcs. We spoke of Dwarves. She was really fascinated by Ents (walking, talking trees).

"Really !!!"

"Wow !!!"

I think she got the idea. Simplicity is harder for adults but let's try it. Grandpa is listening.

"Hi."

A. I.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Virgil!

I really appreciate your comments on prayer. Thank you for reminding us how "simple" it really is.

Julie