At night, I say bedtime prayers with my kids and my seven-year-old daughter’s prayers can sometimes get very detailed. Last night, she thanked God for each of the stuffed animal on her bed (thankfully only four of hundreds that she has), she thanked God for her hair to keep her warm, she even thanked God for her bones so that she would be a blob on the floor. I smiled remembering when each of my kids were toddlers and said prayers at the dinner table thanking God for every individual thing in sight.
When we as adults pray, however, our prayers are much more powerful because we pray on a deeper level for much more serious things, right?
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
God does want to hear about the big issues that are on our hearts. But once we have prayed about it, we need to learn to trust God and not dwell on the issue. Instead we need to learn to focus on all of the little blessings that God gives us each day (like hair, bones, and every piece of cutlery on the dinner table).
I challenge you today to say a prayer like a little child. Thank God for not just the big things in your life, but as many of the little things that we take for granted because God’s blessings are so commonplace. I’ll get you started: “Dear God, thank you for the air I just breathed…”