Friday, April 20, 2007

Faith like a child ...

Sometimes my children completely blow me away. Today was one of those days.
We were in the car at 11:00 today when in my area a moment of silence was observed for what happened on Monday.
The radio announcers took the moment of silence and then they said a lovely prayer about healing over what had happened, etc and it was nice.
My four year old asked me if she too could say a prayer.
Now, I had explained to my children that something bad had happened on Tuesday (because we also took a moment of silence then at 1pm our time zone). I told them a lot of people were hurt and sadly some of them even died and we needed to remember them and pray for them. We don't watch much news truly, but it has come up in conversation with others and so they listen even when we don't expect them too because my 4 year old knew more than I thought she did and expressed it in a prayer that left me speechless ...
"Dear God,
Please be with all the people who are sad and hurt and love them extra. And God, please be close to the shooter right now because I think he needs You most of all.
Amen."

I kid you not, that is what she said. I got goose bumps. Really. I did. Because it hit me she was right. He did probably need love and kindness right now most of all because I can only think that someone hurting soooooo badly could even think of committing the act he did, let alone acting it out. And two, until that moment I hadn't given that shooter a second thought other than to think I hope he was burning in you know where for what he did. And yet, here is my 4 year old, my 4 year old, who not only remembered to pray for the victims of what happened, but she remembered to pray for the man who did it.
People, I was blown away. Just blown away.
And what happened today I believe is a perfect example of how to have faith like a child. Because in her heart was no hatred. But yet concern and compassion for everyone. Even people I have not thought to give concern and compassion for. And that, my dear friends, is a lesson my 4 year old taught me. A child. An innocent child who is not jaded by so many other things and can say a prayer like that without giving it a second thought. And at the same time giving me goosebumps and making me say a quick prayer in my head, mimicking her words. And here the whole time I thought it was my job to teach them to pray. But really, they are teaching me. In very powerful ways.

8 comments:

Tina said...

I love this entry. What a sweet little girl you have....I think my four year old is sharp, but she would not have thought to pray that way. You must be doing something right...:)

MissKris said...

Brandie, this is beautiful. I'm providing a link to it at my blog...I think it's something worthy of sharing with others. With all the craziness in this world, it's the children who are there to remind us there is still purity and beauty in the human soul. Thank you for sharing this with us all.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful memory to savor and share.

Travelin'Oma said...

Children teach us so much. Whenever something terrible like this happens I think of the person's mother. The anguish she must feel would be horrific. The other side of the joy you must feel in having a daughter so filled with goodness.

Liz Hinds said...

Came over to visit from Kris's blog. This is a truly wonderful post. Such a delight to hear of childlike faith. May we all become like children.

You must be doing a pretty good job as a mother too - and we all have bad days, forgetful moments, stupid times, when we beat ourselves up afterwards - but hang on to this and remember, 'Hey, I'm doing okay!'

Rita Loca said...

Hello from Venezuela. Wise words! love them extra!

Henny Penny said...

What a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing it with all of us!

(Found my way here via Miss Kris. We are homeschoolers too!)

Anonymous said...

out of the mouth of babes!! I bet you have the sweetest little girl!!

God bless,
Sallie