Prayer and Popcorn

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

The area of prayer can be a struggle for my children. Throughout the day, I will find little things we can stop to pray for...an ambulance rushing past - we pray for the person who is hurt; a new scrape from a fall - we pray that Jesus will bring healing; a sick friend or relative – we pray Jesus helps them feel better. Of course, they have the meal time and night time prayers mastered, but getting them to open up to Jesus, about any personal fears and struggles or even personal words of thankfulness, can be difficult.

The other night we decided to pray in a circle all holding hands. I explained that I would start and that they could jump in - at any time - and add to the prayer. My son says, “oh, a popcorn prayer!”. Perfect, I thought, he knows how this works.

It started out simply enough. Jimmy said a few words to get things moving along and then Anna (3 year old) chimes in with “I am thankful for popcorn”. My husband and I smiled a bit...makes sense, it’s fresh on her mind. This was followed by words of thanks for the wii, cake, babies, popcorn (again by Anna -perhaps she had her own agenda). Of course, it was quite giggly at this point. Just when I had given up hope, Leah gave thanks for all the people in her family, each of us by name. Ahh…a step in the right direction!

Sometimes living out our faith in front of our children can feel awkward. We may not have the right words to say to help them open up. Timing can be everything! Waiting for the right quiet moment to bring them into prayer before God is important (instead of forcing a bedtime prayer when emotions are running high and the battle for bedtime has begun. Anyone?)

Our first popcorn prayer may have centered too much around popcorn but hopefully the next time we hold each other’s hands and come before God we can pick up where we left off – with giggles included!

~ Kelly