The prayers of small children demonstrate what all prayer should resemble.  They are open, honest, joyful, and eager to contribute.  Our oldest granddaughter has become quite a pray-er and we love to hear her talk to God. In fact, we are privileged to hear the conversation she has and the details she provides.  I’m sure God smiles as much as we do when she gets rolling.

Over the past few days, we have heard her be more thankful than anything else.  The food gets mentioned, but only briefly as she then begins the list of people who have become important to her. She always mentions her mom and dad before she goes on to other people.  Uncles get mentioned more than once in nearly every prayer and that is a testament to their importance.  Other relatives also get mentioned along with her friends from preschool.  It is obvious from her prayers that relationships are key.

How different from the prayers of adults…from my prayers.  Rather than simply being thankful for relationships and people I know, my prayers are filled with more requests than gratitude.  There is nothing wrong with taking our cares and concerns  to our heavenly Father and trusting that He will act in His wisdom.  What I lack that my granddaughter does naturally is to simply take time to eagerly thank God for people he has brought into my life.

In this season leading to Thanksgiving, there are many individuals who are taking advantage of the Facebook challenge to list something they are thankful for every day.  My challenge is to also balance our prayer time to include more gratitude in the coming days.