Our children have come along way with their prayers. I remember when Greta was 3 years old and Caleb was 2 years old and we would be sitting at the table before meals and their prayers would go something like this…

Greta: “Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the butterflies, thank you for the butterflies, thank you for the butterflies, Amen!” (It always seemed to be about butterflies and repeated 3 times over)

Caleb: “Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the ladybugs, thank you for the ladybugs, thank you for the ladybugs, Amen!”

Then they would gradually start those prayers where they would pray for everything they could think of (literally) under the sun. These were generally sometimes 10 minute prayers of thanking Jesus for everything that He made and everything they could think of. So sweet and precious, yet I found myself on the verge of jumping in with a protest that dinner is getting cold. But I never could justify stopping their prayers, I’d rather dinner be cold.

Overtime there would be prayers so funny or cute, the kind that Mike and I would open one eye and look at each other ready to burst with big grins. This still happens. Mostly with Joshua prayers. He likes to thank Jesus for trucks and diggers, among other things.

Then came the prayer that Greta prayed once and now all 3 children begin their prayers most often with this one; “Dear Lord Jesus, thank you and we need You, and You are in our hearts, and You are the only one King, and your faithfulness to all generations. Amen.” That is word for word. She would actually start praying scripture that we were memorizing as a family. Your faithfulness to all generations came from Psalm 100:5 “For the Lord is good, His steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.”

So we have come along way in our household of prayers from “thank you for the butterflies, thank you for the butterflies, thank you for the butterflies Amen!” By God’s grace.

I once heard Sara Groves tell a story about her little nephew, that one day he asked Jesus into his heart and then the next day he asked Spiderman into his heart.

Does anyone else have a favorite they want to share with us? We’d love to hear them.