Now I lay me down to sleep

Harrison and I use to say his prayers together every night before bed. Sometime in the past year though, it became less frequent. I guess since school started it's been such a rush to get everyone's homework done, lunches packed, and clothes out that our bedtime routine has suffered some. The other night as I was tucking Harrison in, he asked me "Mom, do you remember when we use to say my prayer every night?" Talk about feeling bad. So of course we have started our prayer routine again.

Harrison has begin to enjoying praying. At supper he no longer sings "God our Father" when it's his time to bless the food. He chooses to say an actual prayer thanking God for whatever comes to mind. It's always surprising to hear what he feels blessed with. It's the same with the bedtime prayers. Just the other night he began his prayers in the usual way "Now I lay me down to sleep..." When he gets to the end, he always thanks God for something. This evening, his prayer went something like this "Thank you God for these wonderful moms and dads, thank you also for the wonderful kids in our house and please God watch out for the poor people so they don't die tonight. Amen."

Curious as to his last request, I asked him why he was afraid that the poor people might die. He responded by telling me that poor people didn't have food, warm clothes and houses to sleep in so they really needed God to look out for them.

I felt so proud of him for thinking about people less fortunate than him. Sometimes I think that my kids get so much that they have no real clue that there are people out there who struggle to make ends meet. And even worse people out there who have nothing. Harrison might not have total comprehension about what it means to be poor, but he does know in his own 6 year old mind, that being poor is hard and those people need some extra prayers. And that makes me proud.