House Full of Prayers

Alongside the adventures of Dick and Jane and a dog named Spot, I grew up reading the Christian version, with renamed characters, Tommy and Sally. The publisher added Mommy, Daddy, and Baby but decidedly kept the dog named Spot.

I barely salvaged one book, House Full of Prayers, from my collection and today it sits, guarded in my office. As a child, I cared more about revealing the hidden pictures beneath the paper folds than reading the rhyming prayers.

When I taught my own children (and grandchildren) to pray, I pulled out this old tattered book. With the same enthusiasm, my children loved the peek-a-boo folds, but the prayers were too full of "thees" and "thys" so, I simplified them and came up with these:

Grace at meals:

Thank-you Jesus for this food,

our family and friends.

Amen

Bedtime:

Thank-you, Jesus for this day.

Thanks for all the games I played.

God bless Mommy and Daddy, Sister and Me.

God bless all those I love.

Amen.

Of course, as we mature, so do our prayers, but the point is, children learn by example. If we read to our children, surround them with books, they grow up reading and enjoying literature. If we pray with our children, fill our house with prayer (more than dinner and bedtime), they not only learn how to pray, but we cultivate a foundation and hunger for God.

Is your house a house full of prayer? How do you teach your children/grandchildren how to pray?