Today’s special edition post is from Tova Dad, my favorite daughter and Virtual Assistant. She lives outside of Amarillo with her husband and their two daughters.
I think most of us have had the experience of being called on to report to a superior
– your
boss, an elected
official, maybe just your
parents.
I don’t think many of us have met members of the nobility of a certain nation, and even less likely, actual royalty.
Mentally picturing myself in those situations makes my blood pressure rise a bit!
What if I fall over when I try to curtsy?
What if I try to shake hands when I’m not supposed to?
WHAT IF I FORGET TO SAY “MA’AM” AS IN “HAM” AND NOT “MA’M” AS IN “FARM?!”
I think I just outed myself as an Anglophile.
Allow me to retroactively raise your blood pressure a bit more.
Did you ever call your teacher, ”Mom,” or say, ”I love you,” at the end of a phone conversation with someone you have never spoken to that way before?
I’m pretty sure that’s happened to a fair few of us.
Now, with all that in mind, allow me to set the scene:
It was the longest of bedtimes. It was the latest of bedtimes…
Hold on. I wrote that one already!
However, the theme plays true that
I get to have the best conversations about faith and our relationship with God when my children are supposed to have been asleep a long, long time ago.
On this specific night, it was
my youngest daughter who sparked the conversation. Her brand of anxiety presents as
stubborn grumpiness (no idea where she got that from).
For a while now, when it’s been her turn to pray, she’ll say,
“I don’t know what to pray for,” or she’ll ask me to say the Lord’s Prayer (or ‘Our Father’ as some may know it) and allow her to copy me. Sometimes she’ll whisper,
“What do I say now?” After she’s thanked God for her family.
Sometimes I’ll whisper back a reminder of a particular concern she expressed during the day, or a reminder about people she loves who are struggling with an illness or hard situation.
“What do I say now?”
“If you’re done, just say ‘I love you. Amen.”
“…Amen.”
That was new!
I stopped the bedtime routine to investigate.
“I liked your prayer. Did you not want to say ‘I love you?’”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was nervous.”
Brain cells trying to wake back up.
“Is it because He’s the King?”
In the quietest voice the Loudest Person on Earth can manage,
“Yes.”
Let me explain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up.
In an effort to make sure all of our attentions are focused on God when we take turns praying, and
to avoid distractions of unnecessary wiggling or noise-making, I have many times told my girls to
“be respectful, we’re talking to our king.”
So, I told that little, nervous 6-year-old,
“You don’t ever have to worry about telling God that you love Him. You’re the daughter of the King.”
She perked right up. “I am?”
Then I got to remind her and her big sister that
when they asked Jesus to be their Rescuer so they could join God’s family, they became daughters of God the Father, making them daughters of the King.
I talked about how they never have to be afraid to tell us, their parents, that they love us, so they could say the same things to God because He loves them even more than we do.
My oldest asked me if I was also a daughter of the King.
I said I was because I had also asked Jesus to be my Rescuer so I could join God’s family, and how I tried to learn more about being like Jesus every day.
I asked my youngest if she remembered praying to ask Jesus to be her Rescuer.
She wasn’t sure.
I told her that asking Jesus to be her Rescuer is something she can do over and over –
every day or several times a day!
I asked if she wanted to pray to the Father and King, and Jesus, again to be her Rescuer
to remind herself that she was a part of God’s family.
She did.
So she followed my clumsy steps toward my King, Father, Rescuer, and Comforter, again.
And that little Daughter of the King fell asleep that night in confidence of God’s never stoping, never giving up, always, and forever love for her.
And that mama was grateful for the opportunity to remind herself that
every bedtime extension was not a frustration to overcome, but fertile soil for faith to grow.
And that, amazingly, she was a daughter of the King too.
Today’s special edition post is from Tova Dad, my favorite daughter and Virtual Assistant. She lives outside of Amarillo with her husband and their two daughters.
I think most of us have had the experience of being called on to report to a superior
– your boss, an elected official, maybe just your parents.
I don’t think many of us have met members of the nobility of a certain nation, and even less likely, actual royalty.
Mentally picturing myself in those situations makes my blood pressure rise a bit!
What if I fall over when I try to curtsy?
What if I try to shake hands when I’m not supposed to?
WHAT IF I FORGET TO SAY “MA’AM” AS IN “HAM” AND NOT “MA’M” AS IN “FARM?!”
I think I just outed myself as an Anglophile.
Allow me to retroactively raise your blood pressure a bit more.
Did you ever call your teacher, ”Mom,” or say, ”I love you,” at the end of a phone conversation with someone you have never spoken to that way before?
I’m pretty sure that’s happened to a fair few of us.
Now, with all that in mind, allow me to set the scene:
It was the longest of bedtimes. It was the latest of bedtimes…
Hold on. I wrote that one already!
However, the theme plays true that I get to have the best conversations about faith and our relationship with God when my children are supposed to have been asleep a long, long time ago.
On this specific night, it was my youngest daughter who sparked the conversation. Her brand of anxiety presents as stubborn grumpiness (no idea where she got that from).
For a while now, when it’s been her turn to pray, she’ll say, “I don’t know what to pray for,” or she’ll ask me to say the Lord’s Prayer (or ‘Our Father’ as some may know it) and allow her to copy me. Sometimes she’ll whisper, “What do I say now?” After she’s thanked God for her family.
Sometimes I’ll whisper back a reminder of a particular concern she expressed during the day, or a reminder about people she loves who are struggling with an illness or hard situation.
“What do I say now?”
“If you’re done, just say ‘I love you. Amen.”
“…Amen.”
That was new!
I stopped the bedtime routine to investigate.
“I liked your prayer. Did you not want to say ‘I love you?’”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was nervous.”
Brain cells trying to wake back up.
“Is it because He’s the King?”
In the quietest voice the Loudest Person on Earth can manage, “Yes.”
Let me explain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up.
In an effort to make sure all of our attentions are focused on God when we take turns praying, and to avoid distractions of unnecessary wiggling or noise-making, I have many times told my girls to “be respectful, we’re talking to our king.”
So, I told that little, nervous 6-year-old, “You don’t ever have to worry about telling God that you love Him. You’re the daughter of the King.”
She perked right up. “I am?”
Then I got to remind her and her big sister that when they asked Jesus to be their Rescuer so they could join God’s family, they became daughters of God the Father, making them daughters of the King.
I talked about how they never have to be afraid to tell us, their parents, that they love us, so they could say the same things to God because He loves them even more than we do.
My oldest asked me if I was also a daughter of the King. I said I was because I had also asked Jesus to be my Rescuer so I could join God’s family, and how I tried to learn more about being like Jesus every day.
I asked my youngest if she remembered praying to ask Jesus to be her Rescuer.
She wasn’t sure.
I told her that asking Jesus to be her Rescuer is something she can do over and over – every day or several times a day!
I asked if she wanted to pray to the Father and King, and Jesus, again to be her Rescuer to remind herself that she was a part of God’s family.
She did.
So she followed my clumsy steps toward my King, Father, Rescuer, and Comforter, again.
And that little Daughter of the King fell asleep that night in confidence of God’s never stoping, never giving up, always, and forever love for her.
And that mama was grateful for the opportunity to remind herself that every bedtime extension was not a frustration to overcome, but fertile soil for faith to grow.
And that, amazingly, she was a daughter of the King too.
