The Prayers of a 3 Year Old

Josh and I have been reading Bible stories and praying with Aidan every night before bed for the past couple of months now. It has been such a rewarding venture. He loves his "Bible book," and refuses to go to bed without it. In fact, this weekend, we took a little mini vacation, if you can call it that, to Tulsa, OK and forgot Aidan's Bible. More than once, he asked me where his "Bible book" was. We actually forgot all his books (shame on us), and had to revert to bedtime tv watching instead of a story. :/

Lately, he wants to say his own prayers. They started out with either Josh or myself saying them, then moved on to Aidan repeating what we said, and now he says his own prayers at both the dinner table and before bed. It's the sweetest thing I've ever heard.

At dinner, he insists on having everyone around the table hold hands. I'm not sure where this came from, perhaps school, as Josh and I don't typically hold hands to pray around the table. Aidan's typical dinner prayers consists of thanking God for his family and the food on his plate. After saying, "Amen," he insists that it is Josh's turn to pray, and then mine. Therefore, we usually end up with 3 dinner time prayers.

At bed time, he lays on his back in bed, closes his eyes, and clasps his hands over his chest. He thanks God for his friends and family, and then whatever else he happens to see in his room at that moment.

The prayers of a child are precious. Some of my favorites :

"Dear God, Thank you for my friends...and my muffin...and my bunny...and my other bunny...and my bear. Amen."

"Dear God and Happy Jesus, Thank you for my family and my mac and cheese. Amen."

"Dear God, Thank you for my vegetables and my mama and daddy."

"Dear God and Happy Jesus, Thank you for my friends, my family, my toys, my rocket car that goes like this: Vroooooom! Thank you for my toys. Amen."