God, send the angels ... Amen!

"...and for the daily bread and the hope of the peace and ..."

When my daughter was three and began to develop a fear of the dark, she wouldn't stay in her bedroom, at bedtime. Finally, having done everything I could possibly think of to reassure her that all was well, I remembered what another mom had told me she had tried (that had worked!). She had tried prayer. She had discovered that the only thing she could use to divert the attention of her son (the same age) was to pray with him. So, with this in mind, I told my daughter that we were going say a prayer to God, for Him to send angels to be with her especially at night time. It worked and she went to bed. Ever since that night, a year ago (?) we have prayed every night. (well, every night that she hasn't fallen aslepp in the car, first, or spent the night elsewhere...) That prayer has evolved from "God, please send the angels. Amen!" to something much more invloved and meaningful. -for both of us.

My husband has listened in and says (laughingly) that he thinks my prayers are full of propanganda. He's right ... they are; or can be. We start the ritual me tucking my daughter into bed, while I pray. "God, thank you for _______ (whatever neat or not so neat thing we did that day -- a reminder that the day was fun, darnit). Please help ____ (usually concerning the health of a very close relative). Let my daughter and son wake up in their own beds, in the morning, because they'll be in better moods for ____ (whatever thing I can think of that sounds like it might be worth attempting to not come into my room, in the middle of the night)." Nights when my husband isn't home from work, we pray for safe travels ... other events and items make appearances, too, but you get the general idea ... mostly mama propaganda. I giggle whenever I think about the first time my husband stood at the kids doorway and listened to the whole thing; thereafter rendering this opinion.

Anyway - after I say my prayer, my daughter says hers. Sometimes it's short. Sometimes I just jump in and say (loudly), "AMEN!" She grins and smiles at me to let me know she had absolutely been stalling for time. Often, she echos what I've said in my prayer and peppers it with some thoughts and/or concerns/happy thoughts of her own. Lately, she's taken to adding in the "daily bread," then she'll mutter something that ends in, "the hope," and tonight there was also something about, "the peace." A terrific prayer, really. But I can't stop giggling over it because these beautiful phrases are coming out of the mouth of a 4 year old.

My son is old enough now to realize something is happening, when I pray, and then when she prays ... so we've added a new step tp the ritual. I pray and tuck my daughter in. She prays, while I stand and watch. Then, I duck down to the bottom bunk and tuck in my son and tell God that "[My son] doesn't know how to pray yet, but if he did he'd thank you for his giggles and grins and thev winkle in his eye. He'd say thank you for his sister and his mama and his daddy. Amen!" Sometimes he says Amen, too ... He seems very satisfied with this addition to our lengthy bedtime routine. (I've only told you about the tucking in ... the routine/ritual starts WAY before that ... what can I say!? My kids seem to find routines very comforting!)