Mama, I don't know how to pray.” |
I've been known to choose to name the year, giving it a theme of sorts, so that 365 days later I'll have the possibility to reflect on a life transformed, not by one grand effort, but by many small attentions along the way. At the beginning of 2016, I named the year, "The Year of Prayer". I chose this focus as I was nearing four decades of living, yet still wasn't convinced that I had a full understanding of the purposes and practices of prayer. 2016 turned into a journey. I surrounded myself with devotionals and readings, and diligently rose early to seek God's face. I read, and I prayed, and I journaled, and I listened. And as one may expect, the habit of prayer began to develop. It was intentional, scripture-filled, multi-faceted, and a daily meeting space. In the fall of that year, when tucking my daughter into bed, I reminded her to say her own prayers. When usually she would nod her head and smile sweet, this night she looked me fierce in the eyes and said, "Mama, I don't know how to pray". I remember thinking, "Ah, that makes two of us figuring this prayer thing out." When I left her bedside that evening, the first considerations of piecing together a prayer resource for children began - one that would help the prayer-hearted child grow in intentional habit, intersecting prayer with scripture, and knowing the freedom to practice the many facets of prayer. Four years later, Practicing the Habit of Prayer: 31 Days of Prayer and Scripture came to completion. That daughter is no longer a ten-year-old girl wondering how to pray, but I couldn't help placing a copy of this resource into her teenage hands and encouraging her to keep growing in her habit of prayer. ~ Jessica |
There is no way to learn to pray but by praying. No reasoned philosophy ever taught a soul to pray.
~ Samuel Chadwick