Praying

So last week Karl came upon some of Ruth's destruction - she'd banged the point of her spoon over and over again on the top of the table at her place. Sure enough there were permanent holes/marks. They had a talk, (hopefully a long-lasting lesson), the 'owies on the table' and how they weren't going to go away and how Ruth should never do that again - we don't bang things at the table, we don't bang things because then people or things can get owies, etc.

She remembers it well. Ever since, she points it out at least once a day, often more, to the point that we ask her to stop talking about it - it's just a good reminder not to bang things.

This last week's sermon was about prayer - do it, be specific, be creative, be engaged, be persistent at it. Even though Ruth was in nursery, she put this sermon into practice. She's just started praying - mostly repeating after us sentence by sentence. But this morning she wanted to pray herself:

"Taint you Dod a pood. Owies on a pable. Taint you owies on a pable. Taint you...friends tum ober. Taint you tonpates mult. Taint you owies on a pable..."

(Thank you God, for food. Owies on the table. Thank you for owies on the table. Thank you for friends coming over. Thank you for cornflakes and milk. Thank you for owies on the table."

I think she was getting a kick out of it. I finally added an 'Amen' and we ate our cornflakes and milk. But yeah, I loved how spontaneous she was in praying and it reminded me that God doesn't mind hearing about the same thing again and again. I think he loves listening to us, the way I love hearing what Ruth is thinking.