Prayer

We had finished reading our bedtime stories, had our snack, and were laying down to go to bed when Caleb gasped. "Mom, we forgot to pray". Now, of course we would have prayed within the next minute if given the chance, but there was no need to correct him. "Okay Caleb", I replied, "would you like me to pray?" "No, mom," he answered, "I'll do it. Can I bow?" I didn't really know what he meant by this, but decided I would like to find out. "Of course you can Caleb." With that, he walked to the middle of his bedroom, closed his eyes, folded his hands, and bowed with his face to the ground. Tears immediately came to my eyes as I saw him unknowingly humble himself in such a manner before his creator. "Dear Lord," he started, "thank you for this day. Please help daddy as he takes care of patients at the hospital because he can't do it on his own. Please help me to be kind to my cousins and help me to share. In Jesus name I pray all of these things. Amen." Quite the complex prayer for such a little boy. Ben was at the hospital on call this particular evening, but I told him the next day about Caleb's prayer and prayer posture. I wondered if Ben had taught him to "bow". He hadn't, but when I looked in Caleb's children's bible I saw that he had learned it from a picture of King David bowing before God. As he finished his little talk with God, I felt so incredibly proud of him. He is learning some important behaviors at a young age: to be humble, to rely on God to guide us daily in what we do, and to desire to be constantly growing in order to show Christ's love to others.
What a precious thing to be able to see the truly blind and innocent faith of a child.