Tomorrow's Wishes

The Prayer Jar

I know my posts are a bit all over the place. Many of them come from past posts on other blogs that I started but never finished, some from my personal journals, some from a time in my life that I just feel like sharing. 

This one is from a very special moment in our family and I hope you enjoy it. 

It was a typical evening, I was getting dinner ready; setting the table and I called up to the kids and my husband to come down and eat.  As I walked around the table to go grab the drinks I looked over at the flowered water pitcher and smiled. “Well, we have to start somewhere.” I grabbed it and placed it on the table.

Everyone sat down and I looked over at my husband. “Would you mind if we tried something new tonight?” He smiled and said “Sure, what did you have in mind?” I looked at him and said “Just go with me on this one.” With a quizzical look on his face he nodded.

I brought my hands up on the table and opened them up in a gesture to hold hands. I grabbed my son's hand and then looked at my daughter and grabbed her hand; in turn they each grabbed their daddy’s hand. Everyone looked a little worried as I bowed my head.

There we sat at the kitchen table, holding hands, our heads bowed. Each of us sneaking peeks through our lashes at what the others were doing. With my heart beating just a little faster than normal, I cleared my throat and let go of their hands.

Hesitantly I reached into the water pitcher filled with small strips of paper we had kept from the Easter Egg hunt at our church. I pulled one out and gently unfolded it. I was a little nervous since this was all very new to me. You could have heard a pin drop.

I glanced up at my family, took a deep breath and then read… “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

I looked up at my family; they were still holding hands, I put down the strip of paper and reached for their hands again. Glancing back and forth at each other, each of us thinking, is that it? I smiled at them and simply said “In Jesus name, Amen. “

We held on to each other’s hands for what seemed like minutes then our son looked at me and said, “Can we do that again tomorrow night?!” Our daughter just giggled. And so it began…we were learning to pray.

Not your traditional prayer, I know, but it was a start.

Over the years we have learned to pray on our own and from our hearts. And we long ago stopped using the tiny strips of paper from our flowered water pitcher, our prayer jar. But it will always have a place in our home as a constant reminder of where we've been and of all the amazing things that He has helped us through along the way.

I look back sometimes at my life, the trials, the triumphs, and I thank God for being with me every step of the way. Even when I didn't think He was. He never gave up on me.