Prayers: No Matter How Silly

– Ponderings:

Have you ever started laughing during prayer? I don’t mean while the pastor is praying during the Sunday service. That would be wrong! I mean laughing during one of your prayers. That happens to me occasionally. I start out serious and suddenly find myself chasing a rabbit trail or at a complete loss for words. Then the laughter starts.

The book, Children’s Prayers to God, has some hilarious and yet inspiring prayers. There’s something sacred about overhearing a child pray. Their prayers aren’t polished or theologically precise, but they are real and honest. Children possess an uncanny ability to perceive the world in the most imaginative ways and often bring their imaginations into their prayers (until they are told often enough that they need to be more serious when they pray). I wonder what is lost when we take ourselves too seriously.

“Dear God, please give me a pet leaf-eating dinosaur.” Isn’t it nice that leaf-eating was added? I no doubt would’ve prayed for a brother-eating dinosaur instead. Then there are the prayers that acknowledge the truth that foods that are good for us don’t taste as good as foods that aren’t. “Dear God, please send me a chocolate river to dip my carrots in,” or “Dear God, can you make green beans taste like pizza?”

Children also have a knack for celebrating the extraordinary in the ordinary. When they pray, they see the divine in everyday objects. “Dear God, can you make my teddy bear fly? I think that would be cool.” I admit, a flying teddy bear would be pretty cool.

Just as children’s prayers remind us to find joy and wonder even in the simplest things, they also reflect the belief that there is nothing God cannot or will not do. They aren’t worried about asking for something inappropriate. After all, God will figure it out. They pray for superpowers such as the ability to become invisible during broccoli time or the power to make school end early. Such requests remind us that faith can be lighthearted, free from the constraints of logic and reasoning. Their faith teaches us to believe in the impossible, even if it means embracing a world with popsicle rainbows and marshmallow streets.

Children’s prayers are like unfiltered giggles echoing through the heavens. They remind us to approach our conversations with God with a light heart and a contagious smile. Their requests may be unconventional, but they come from a place of pure love, trust, and innocence. Their faith teaches us to embrace the child within ourselves and find joy in the small moments of life.

I’m not saying we should make a habit of giggling during prayer, but children’s prayers serve as a reminder that God is not only with us in sorrow but in times of joy. No matter how silly our adult minds tell us their prayer is, think of the freedom with which these children fearlessly approach God. They may not get their pet leaf-eating dinosaur – in fact, by tomorrow their request may be for something very different – but they aren’t worried about God’s reaction to their prayer. God accepts them as they are.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14).

Jesus reminds us not to hinder the child within us—the part of us that still dares to believe, hopes without cynicism, and prays with wonder. This morning, try embracing the wonder of a child’s prayer. Pray for something imaginative and different. Let your heart be filled with the joy that only a child’s imagination can bring. Talk to God with the same trust that’s in a child’s eyes. Bring him your scraped knees, your thank-yous for dinner (including chocolate sauce with carrots), and your tiny victories. And laugh.

So, what did you pray for?