Ethan's prayer

One of the hardest things for me as a parent has been a struggle with Ethan to have him pray. I've wrestled with how to "make" him repeat prayers and if punishing him is the way, or rather just being consistent in modeling with him is enough. I'm not sure if the route we've taken is the right one, but last night I was grateful for a little growth in Ethan's prayer life.

For the longest time I've asked Ethan before praying if there's anything he wants to talk to God about. For about a month now Ethan hasn't had anything, but his baby has. So, each night I pray for baby's request as well as go through our routine prayer. Then one night Ethan said he would pray for baby's request. And he did. But last night was the best yet. Ethan had his own prayer request.

Drumroll.....Ethan wanted to talk to God about the snozzle.

Scratching your head. Yes, I was too. But then I discovered he wanted to ask God to help us fix the shower head that I had tried to fix earlier in the day, but didn't have the right tool for.

So, Ethan prayed on his own for the snozzle. And then he repeated after me the prayer that we often use at bed time.

It was a sweet moment. I rejoiced in seeing Ethan take some first steps, but I also reflected how sometimes my prayers must sound like this to God also. I ask for him to fix the snozzle...something small, something obscure to His big picture. And you know what? I think God smiles too, because he knows I'm coming to Him and asking and being in relationship with Him.

I'll always treasure the "Snozzle prayer".