I love sharing life lessons with my grandchildren that demonstrate God’s love for us through all that He has created. I find that in almost any conversation showing them that God is active and alive in their lives may not be easy but it is worth the effort to try. And I get great joy when my nine year old granddaughter shares a book with me and says she knows I will like it because it has “God stuff” in it. Recently she shared her “I love Jesus” pin she received at vacation Bible school and I will cherish her sweet gift forever. It makes me realize that all my words need to be God words because little ears are listening. 

We also talk about prayer and praying when we take our walks in the woods by our home or when we work together in my home office. I love sharing pretty paper and pens, notepads and supplies and enjoy listening as she uses her imagination as well as her heart to tell me stories. It was one of these times when she asked me about praying. Wow, the responsibility I felt as I chose my words was tremendous. In my excitement to tell her about how much I love God and prayer I wondered if I could tell her too much. Would my words discourage rather than encourage? How could I keep it simple and appropriate for her age? Would I sound too pompous or too phony?

As always, my wise little granddaughter guided me rather than the other way around. I can’t possibly repeat word for word what her 9 year old heart expressed but her words were simple. “Grandma, I can pray anywhere, can’t you?  And if I can’t think of the words, I just think it in my heart.” 

Wow, how do you top that lesson?  From there we made up sentences for each other about where we could pray. Here is the simple poem we came up with and these sentiments will last me a lifetime.

Do you pray on your knees or while gazing into trees?

Do you fold your hands or simply stand?

Do you speak aloud or are you too proud?

Do you pray for another or leave that to your brother?

Do you pray from the heart or are you afraid to start?

It doesn’t matter your age or if you write words on a page.

 Just remember God always cares about your prayers. 

No truer words were ever spoken from a nine year old and this old grandma couldn’t have made a life lesson any more meaningful than this. I am blessed to have an influence on my own grandchildren and I pray for all grandparents that they can touch the hearts of their grandchildren with a life lesson from their hearts.