Last night I was putting Elijah to bed. Before Elijah goes to sleep he has a sequence of events that he likes to do. Around 8:00 pm he likes to have a cup of yogurt for his bedtime snack, then brushes his teeth, plays with his animals for 1 last minute, kisses mom goodnight, Papa reads him 2 books, then prays, tells everyone "he loves them infinity and see you tomorrow".
Last night he prayed this way, "Thank you for everyone, thank you for the clock, thank you for the walls, thank you for the carpet, thank for........, the list goes on. As I was laying there beside him I have to admit I grew tired of his "thank you's". I even interrupted him during his prayer and said "No, Elijah we have to pray for the people who are sick and need help."
Yes I know, I'm an idiot!
I interrupted a prayer where my son was thanking God for all the things around him and told him something else. It's not that praying for the those who need help is bad. I just interrupted a heart felt prayer by my son and let my idea of the traditional prayer outwiegh his.
I am sure there are lots of lessons to be learned from this. And I am sure this probably won't be the last time I show my stupidity in fatherhood. But I wonder how many times we let our own thoughts outweigh others or more importantly how many times we let our thoughts outweigh God's?
BB
