Prayers and Blessings

I have been attending a Sunday school class using the book Revolutionary Parenting as a guide. During the last 5 minutes of class our children’s minister stands up and would issue a challenge for the week. A challenge to get us to be better parents. She usually would give us something along the lines of bringing God into the conversations more or praying around the dinner table.

This class has been so wonderful. It allowed me to have the gumption to ask Jacob to pray at dinner and when he said no, again like he does every time we would ask I tucked that information into the back of my mind and that night when I tucked him in I asked him why he didn’t ever want to pray at dinner. His response was of course to say nothing at all, just like when I ask a difficult question to him. I asked if it was because he didn’t actually know how. If he was intimidated because when our babysitter prays at her table it is always very flowy and showy? His response to this question was a big nod and big scared eyes.

I quickly informed him that he was ok to have very simple prayers and that his prayers would be just as important to God as any big showy prayer he had heard anywhere else. We now, have nightly “prayer time” and he is excited to do it and getting more confident in his prayers every night. They are still very simple and “thank you for the trees” kind of prayers, but he is comfortable doing it and it pleases me more than anything else in this world.

Additionally another challenge given was to write a blessing for your children. This was especially difficult for me. I was very unsure of what to write. But I did it. I am sure it is horrible. But I plan to give these to the kids on Christmas Eve, and make it a tradition. And let me tell you--- it blessed me more than I am sure it will bless them. It is nice to sit down and really think about the wonderful things about your children and how they bless you and how you only hope for the very best for your children.

This class has come to a close and I am really sad about it. I know that the next class we will begin after the new year will be fabulous. It is a more Bible based course and I love to delve into the Bible during Sunday School, but I will miss this class, it is the first “parenting course” that I REALLY enjoyed and will miss going to every week. I am glad that I purchased the book in order to read and re-read it as my children grow. I would recommend it to anybody!!