Read Luke 18:15-17
Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it.—Proverbs 22:6 (CEB)
The six-year-old daughter of church member once asked me three questions: Who taught you how to pray? Who teaches pastors how to pray? Can you teach me how to pray?
I decided to teach her the two prayers my parents taught me when I was a child.
My parents thought it was important that my siblings and I learn two prayers that would become models for us to use even in our adult years—a prayer of gratitude before meals and the Lord’s Prayer. I memorized these prayers as a child without fully understanding them. But as I grew older, the Lord’s Prayer became a lifeline for me.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he taught them a model prayer that also provided them with guidance for how to live. And although Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer 2,000 years ago, it is still part of faithful practice in homes and churches around the world today. I have passed these model prayers on to my children and grandchildren, and I’m sure they will pass them to the next generations.
Prayer: Loving God, thank you for children. Help us to nurture them with your word so that they may feel your presence in their life. Amen.
Thought for the day: Today I will try to live by the words of the Lord’s Prayer.
Navamani Peter, Karnataka, India
