5 Year Old Prayer List

To be clear, not a prayer list that is five years old, rather, a list of prayers from a 5 year old. Each night (the ones that are not hectic and hurried before a school play, night out, or other event) our family sits down for dinner together, and after dinner, we read from a book called Sticky Situations: 365 Devotions for Kids and Families. A short story is told with some sort of moral dilemma, and a family discussion ensues about what the character should do and why. It is then tied to a specific place in the bible to back up the message. While it is a pretty good tool for younger kids, we have found that for our 11 and 13 year old, the answers are a bit too predictable. Its hard to have a scenario that is navigable for a 13 year old as well as a 5 year old. It requires some creative editing on the fly as I read the story to make it a bit more interesting and challenging.

After we finish, we jot down a list of prayer requests, and then divvy them up among the six of us. R, our 5 year old, takes on her share as well. Then the fun begins.

R has no inhibitions in prayer. No concern that she uses the right words or phrases the requests in the right way. Its just pedal-to-the-metal honesty and openness. Here are a few recent prayers:

· Please help daddy find a new job like a veterinarian or doctor or something.

· Thank you for Jesus.

· Please make mommy’s tummy stop hurting.

· Please help the soldiers protect us and keep us from getting hurt. And help them come home so they can be with their kids.

· Please help Aunt Carla’s new baby come out of her tummy ok.

In 25 words or less she covers what takes many people 100 words or more (including me). While on several occasions R’s choice of words during prayer causes her sisters to have to stifle laughs, on more than one occasion I have had to stifle tears. She inspires me to speak simply and directly of my requests and needs.






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