Our Prayer Jar and some other thoughts about prayer...

Sometime during last winter, our little Prayer Bowl fell in the soup. Or maybe some soup fell in the bowl and onto the little papers inside it. I can't remember.

These little papers had the names of family and friends for which we pray, fruits of the Spirit, etc. We were in the habit of pulling out a name or two to pray for before we ate dinner each evening. But after the little papers got all soupy, well, there just wasn't any help for them.

We took a break.

Last Sunday, we made a new Prayer Jar. Each participating child had a job. And we discussed for whom and for what we'd like to pray while we worked.

Here's Daddy preparing our new set of little papers. In Fall colors. Michael waits patiently.

Mercy glues little Fall leaves onto our new Prayer Jar. This is one of her favorite sweaters. Seeing it reminds me that I need to replace the button that fell off in the wash. I think the wooden toggle buttons are her favorite part of her favorite sweater.


Michael cuts. Michael is left handed and I think it must be hard to cut left handed when you are 5 and you are Michael. He stuck with it, though.


Daniel writes our prayer ideas onto each little paper. He begs to write things these days and is disappointed when his grammar lesson doesn't include a writing assignment.


And here we have our new Prayer Jar. Please know that this idea is not original to me. I borrowed it from my friend Stacy a year or so ago. It has really helped in making prayer for others as a family a part of our day.

The kids and I have also been praying together each day during Circle Time in the mornings. Circle Time begins our school day and a few minutes of prayer begins each Circle Time. I've been asking the kids to share prayer requests.

This is how it goes almost every morning:

Me: Does anyone need prayer this morning?
(Michael's and Mercy's hands shoot up. Daniel joins in reluctantly.)
Me: Yes, Michael?
Michael: Doggy still has the measles... and today he has to get all of his teeth pulled out.
Me: Okay. How about you Mercy?
Mercy: Tigger has the measles, too.
Me: We can pray about that. Daniel?
Daniel: I'd like prayer so that I can have better concentration.
Me (somewhat hopeful that we won't be praying only for imaginary stuffed animals today): What kind of things do you want to concentrate on?
Daniel: Ummm. Video games.
Me(After sharing my prayer needs with them-patience and a cheerful voice): Right. Okay. Let's pray!

The other day when we had the pleasure of sharing Circle Time with Daddy, I was about to stop the praying for the stuffed animals business out of irritation with the fact that it wasn't "real". Before I said anything, Bob quietly nixed my attempt to quiet the kids' childish prayer requests. I'm glad he did. After all, they are children, right?

This little topic here is probably worth a whole 'nother post. How do you teach and model for your kids how to pray? I'm pretty sure that making lists of things they can't pray for is not a good beginning.

So we'll be using our Prayer Jar and I'll be keeping my mouth smile-y but mostly shut at Circle Time while the stuffed animals recover from the measles and we pray for more concentration for getting the TriForce when we play Zelda.