Prayer

I read something the other day, I don’t remember where, about prayer and it not always being about your wants.  It drove my mind to where my mind is often driven when thinking about God. God is a Father.  In fact when it comes to prayer it is how Jesus taught His disciples to address Him. It is also the premise behind Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:10-12.

So what about parenting and prayer?  This writer said: “If all they ever do is come to you and ask you’d get tired of it”: Is that statement true?  The truth is it is a maturity thing -

1. As an infant all I know how to do it to cry out.  The infant doesn’t know if the need will be met or not, they just know, initially, to cry. That is like the infant spiritually - not sure about this prayer thing and if it works or not but knows there is a need and that crying out seems to help.
2. As a toddler begin to realize there is a parent there.  Not sure at what age or stage it is but at some point we begin to be aware of an awareness of our parents.  Spiritually at some point we begin to understand there is a bigger “One” out there.  One in control when we are not.
3. As a school child we think the only limit is if our parents want us to be happy.  Never consider there might be another reason they don’t “give” us what we ask for. Spiritually this is perhaps our most selfish time. We begin to think that God exists to meet our whims.
4. As a teen begin to think about what you might contribute and learn to be thankful for what they do for you.
5. As an adult we begin to just be thankful!  Much more thanks than asking. We begin to realize all our parents have done for us and begin to want to give back and to share time being with them.  We’ve learned to respect and begin to understand the wisdom that has been there all along.