CHRISTIANHOMEFEATURE
Your Child Must
him, relating all parts o f his life to God. His hearing our prayer will stimulate him into want ing to pray himself. At once, we begin to teach him to pray for himself. A child ought to use his own words when he begins to pray. While he will need guidance on subjects o f petition, it is better that he uses his own rather than our phrases. Then the contents of his prayer will have meaning for him. Even if he uses printed prayer helps later, it is best to start this way. True, his sentences may not be phrased as well as ours, but the gain in reality is more important. Possibly, we shall not understand what he is saying. That is not vital. God understands what the child wants to say. We must not be shocked or rebuke him if he makes some unexpected requests or gives thanks for some unusual blessings. God sees the sincerity and would prefer the unusual or even the crude to unreal praying. Anyway, God is always interested in all that interests the chil dren. We shall always avoid laughing at his efforts however amusing they may seem. Certain experiences urge us to pray. When our children meet them, we shall seek to lead them to express their feelings in prayer. When they are particularly happy, we can kneel with them and thank God for the lovely day, success at school, or popular gift received. Even a young child can see that having a mother and father to care for him is good, and can be taught to regard them as gifts from God. When they face a crisis that calls for their decision, we can encourage them to ask God to guide them, adding that He has done it for us. If they have done wrong, we seek to show them their error. Then directly they see they are wrong we urge them to confess their sin to God, naming the particular offense. As they begin to see the large part that God has in the activities of the world, we can teach
O ur ch il d r en face a tough world. To face it successfully they will need all the help we parents can give them. If they are to maintain a vigorous spiritual life, they will need all the help God can give them. They will receive this as they learn to pray and find in prayer a sense o f God’s sustaining love. We teach our children that they can speak to God at any time and anywhere; yet that it is good to have a set time and a special place for prayer. True, petition is only part of praying. Yet it is an important section and one where mastery is ever stretching out ahead. How will our children understand the meaning of true prayer? While fellowship between a per son and God is personal, yet we can take steps to guide our children to a healthy fellowship with God. Learning to pray is more than learning a prayer and saying it from memory. Such praying would have little meaning for him. Effective praying is the expression o f a person’s inner feelings, how ever rugged. Our children will begin this learning as we pray with them. We have prayed for him as soon as his coming was expected. We pray with him as soon as possible after his birth. Earliest impres sions are usually deepest. Indeed, one psychiatrist has said that parents have more influence over their children in the first eighteen months after birth than in any later period o f the same length. At first, the child will not understand these or any other words. Yet, hearing us praying aloud just before he sleeps will make an impression which gradually will deepen as words become intelligible to him. It is good to when a child thinks o f God just before he sleeps. The memory of God’s pres ence will remain after much has been forgotten. These moments must always be unhurried. As soon as he is able to kneel, we kneel and pray for him. We try to use ideas that are familiar to
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FEBRUARY, 1968
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