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Refreshingly Simple
Have you ever heard a child pray? In my home and during my job on Sunday mornings, I have the privilege of eavesdropping as many little people bend the ear of God. This is a common prayer at my house. “Dear God. Thank you for a fun day having fun. I pray that we have fun tomorrow at school. Please help me have self control so I can have fun at recess.” It is all about the fun for my kids! With encouragement, they include a few thoughts for others and then pray against bad dreams and thinking about bad things.
I find their prayers appealing in many ways. They are grateful for what happened today and hopeful for tomorrow. Their prayers are consistent, personal, relevant, and refreshingly simple. I heard somewhere that there are paragraph people and there are word people. Since I usually find myself aligning with the paragraph people, those who use many words, a simple approach to prayer is a great reminder.
Peter prayed one of the shortest prayers in the Bible. “Lord, save me!” In three short words, Peter says so much. I think we could all fill in the blank after those words with something relevant to our lives, but Peter was in a bit of a conundrum. He was sinking and I would like to think Christ was privy to what Peter was referring to when he asked to be saved! No extra words necessary. In three words Peter recognized Chris as his Lord and had complete confidence in His ability to save him from drowning. Peter was sinking and he calls to Christ to help him, in those seconds he doesn’t even consider how maybe he could get himself out of his predicament. In three words, Peter prays so much.
I think sometimes we make prayer too confusing, too unlike how we truly speak. I mean really, have you ever said, “hedge of protection” in any conversation outside of prayer? Me neither. But for some reason, we think that our language needs to be savvy, our words flowery, and our prose almost publishable. Today I am learning a lesson from my kids and Peter. I am approaching God in a refreshingly simple way, using fewer words with greater impact, and leaving much quiet in which to hear back.
Well said, Jen. Thank you for sharing and the reminder that simplicity is all we need when talking to our Heavenly Father.
Thanks Jen.The simpler the better.
Thank you Jen.
This is a very good reminder to us to just go to Jesus. Peter could have looked at his past sin and thought I don’t deserve to be saved. Look at all I have done wrong. He could have dwelt in past sin forgetting to leave those things behind. Fortunately he didn’t. He looked to his savior who would cloak him with His righteousness and he called out for help. It doesn’t take a lot of words to call out for help but it does take trust. Jesus died for all our sins past, present, and future and He just tells us to call out to Him. He is always there.
How true! I definitely need to try to take a note from my kids (and Peter!) in the brevity of my prayers…
Amen!