Praying Cats (and Kids)
Corralling six kids for a family prayer time looked a little like herding cats back in the day. My idealistic vision of a ‘good Christian home’ absolutely included our family coming before God’s throne with reverence and intention. It really was more like herding cats and there was very little reverence involved. Our persistence paid off, a few weeks ago we had an amazing prayer time with some of our adult children. Hearing them pray for each other and for us is a moment I will treasure. However, there are some things that I’ve learned in my journey through parenting and being in children’s ministry for multiple decades.
Persist. If you don’t read anything else, remember that! Keep trying different methods, and keep herding. Just. Keep. Doing. It. It’s worth it, see the above paragraph. I hope the rest of these thoughts will help you and your family or ministry continue to develop this crucial spiritual habit.
Develop your own prayer life. Prayer, like many habits, can be caught. If you as a parent or teacher model an active prayer life this will help your family or students develop theirs.
Pray For - pray for your family, your students, for those you want to pray with on your own, just you and Jesus
Pray Over - take time to pray over your family, and/or students, let them hear you praying as the Spirit leads you, this may take the form of speaking words of life into those you’re praying over, praying the scriptures over them, blessing them with the words the Lord has fed into your own spirit. I loved to do this when my kids were just about to fall asleep or if I was in a ministry space when the kids were in an atmosphere of quiet and soaking.
Pray With - there isn’t a right or wrong way to do this, however, there’s a mental hurdle that we must overcome in order to get to the place where we are in fact praying together. While we don’t want to force the issue, kids (and us) need to be taught to pray. We also need to remember that there are many ways to do it, so let’s go down that road with a few ideas.
Our prayer times need to include a time of listening, to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us and the children. This doesn’t need to be big and sparkly but it does need to be a regular part of prayer. Please take a moment to read this excellent article from Little Shoots, Deep Roots on the value of listening prayer if this is a new or puzzling concept to you.
Using a tool like daily prayer cards can help your family to focus on bite-sized prayers:
JOY prayer cards from Not Consumed Ministries
Draw the Circle prayer cards from Focus on the Family
31 Days of Prayer - Kids Verse Card Set; The Daily Grace Co.
Since the season of advent is right around the corner, this is a great time to launch a prayer initiative in your home or ministry. There are many delightful and useful advent guides that have varying degrees of involvement and complexity. Below are links to some excellent resources.
Reminder: don’t be blinded by the glitz, glamour or ‘shoulds.’ Advent is a season of preparation and waiting - it is a perfect time to guide young hearts and minds to focus on Jesus.
We Are KidMin - this company makes beautiful resources to assist families in walking out their journey with Jesus. Our church used the scratch-off Lent calendar last year and now they’ve made a gorgeous Advent one - take a look HERE. They also have a Family Prayer Calendar for 2023 you could check out. For those who lead ministries, WeAreKidMin also creates social media packages with beautiful graphics and daily prompts for prayer and discussion.
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp is a stunning tool to use throughout the advent season. Based on the themes of the Jesse Tree which uncovers God’s Big Story from Genesis through Revelation, the daily devotionals and activities help the whole family discover the wonder of God’s story.
We hope that you’ll be inspired to continue or begin praying with your cats, er - kids, to grow your own prayer life and discover the joy of a growing relationship with Jesus in your own heart and those of the children you serve.