Children's Prayers

Well, I know I have said it before, but I just love listening to the prayers of my children. It is so amazing to watch their world open up before them and what things they are thankful for. Malik loves to pray that people (including Heavenly Father, Jesus, dead prophets etc...) will be "good". I think it is great that he wants things and people to be good. He is now praying for the moon and the stars and the clouds. His prayers stay consistent for a few weeks, then he mixes them up a little, but he always prays for everyone to be good.

Jarek's prayers, when he is taking the time to really say them, are so thoughtful and heartfelt. I believe he is so much like Bret in that he knows he is praying to God. A lot of kids his age still just pray because that is what they are told to do.

Jarek was taking a walk with me yesterday and we were talking about praying. For some reason we started talking about when he gets married (oh yeah, he wants to get married before Malik and that is what sparked the conversation). I asked him what kind of girl he wants to marry and he said that she has to be a Mormon and pretty. I asked him how he would know if he should marry her. And he thought for a minute and said "well, because I will be in love with her". I said that is good to be in love, but sometimes we don't always marry the person that we are first in love with. Then he said, "Well, I will pray about it then." I told him that is exactly what he should do. He asked if Bret and I prayed about getting married and I told him we did. I asked him what he thought would happen if you didn't pray about who you should marry. He said that probably we wouldn't be as happy as we should be. We talked about how even when Bret and I get mad at each other, we can always think back on when we prayed to the Lord if we should get married and know that our prayers were answered. I think he was thinking about this because I had a friend over who's marriage isn't doing too well. We were talking and you know how kids can listen in! She was telling me how neither her nor her husband had really prayed to see if they should get married. They both just figured that it was the next step they should take and wanted to get married. Anyhow, we (Jarek and I) talked about how when we don't ask the Lord about very important decisions, we have a higher chance of not being as happy as we could be. He was a little worried because of the love thing, but then he said, and I was amazed that he would think this at his age, "Well mom, I guess we can love a lot of people, and I should wait to find the one I love and that Heavenly father wants me to love, there has to be a perfect match for me and I will get her."He is amazing. :)

I love talking about these important things with my children. It is an amazing experience to be a parent.