My hubby and I have been teaching Sunday School for a couple of years. We teach 5, 6, and 7 year olds.
The lesson is usually taught by my hubby and I tackle the crafts every week.
But I live for “prayer request time.” But don’t let my holiness deceive you, some weeks it’s the best laugh I get.
Because 5, 6 and 7 year old pray about everything. And I mean, everything.
I’ve been jotting down some of the especially hilarious heart-felt ones.
It starts out like this: “Do y’all have any prayer requests this week?”
Every hand shoots up in the air. We go around the table, one-by-one. We pray for scratches and scabs. We lift up sick grandparents and broken toys. And sometimes, we pray for:
- “The freckle on my butt”
- “I was late for church because my parents were fighting in the car.”
- “The birthday party I went to yesterday was fun. Except for the disgusting cake. Can we pray about that?”
- “My dad says bad words like _______”
- “My mom called my brother a dork. And that’s very bad.”
- “I don’t like my sister.”
- My pet hamster has ring worm.
We thought about moving on to another class since our kids aren’t in ours anymore.
But I can’t give up prayer request time.
Lol! My youngest (almost 4, now) told us once after church that Jesus kicked her. Then another time that he picks his boogers.
I have a soon to be 5yo and she says some funny stuff when she prays. The other night I said to my hubby, “Do you think God gets a lot of these from little kids?” I wonder when he hears them if he is totally laughing at the cuteness of these kids.
Ruby has been giving us prayer requests lately, and they are always good for a giggle. 🙂 On the other hand, you guys teach (taught, rather) your own kids’ Sunday School class? Mike and I specifically request to be *away* from our kids! LOL! 🙂
My 7 year old has his ritual prayer tha he says every night and sometimes he throws in a real kicker… “Dear God, please help me not to pick my fingers, or my toes, or my nose. AMEN!” I wanted to badly to record that and put it on FB for our family to see but resisted.
Absolutely priceless!
YES! we work in childrens ministry and prayer request time is the cutest most fun time, but also so sweet and eye opening into what kids think and feel.
Didn’t you know that’s one of the reasons why Jesus said “Let the little children come to me…” He *loves* a good chuckle too! ;o)
I can only imagine what God has heard over the years… out of the mouths of babes!
Thats hilarious! I wonder what my daughter would come up with, she is 4. Currently she has this ritual prayer, and she says the same thing pretty much every night before bed, thanking God for her family and telling God she loves Him. Its really very sweet, but I wonder how heartfelt since the words are so automatic it seems sometimes.
Absolutely hilarious!! Thank you for the laugh.
Kids are so funny!
I’m always afraid of what my now 8-year-old will say during prayer request time. When the Children’s director looks at you and grins it can’t be good, can it?
On a serious note, I know you have a heart for missions. Please pray for my dear friend, Joy. I don’t want to go into it all here, but if you’ll visit my blog you’ll see her story. Thank you. (I couldn’t find your contact information on here.)
When I teach Children’s Liturgy during mass we pray for an awful lot of dead pets. And the above-mentioned as well.
and this is EXACTLY why prayer request time SCARES me!!!! 🙂 My five–year-old tells EVERYTHING so I pray the entire time he is in his class that he will not embarrass us! 🙂
Melanie
~ melscoffeebreak.blogspot.com ~
oh my goodness that is SO cute and funny! i have to hold back my giggles when my daughter lays hands on broken toys or torn book pages and prays for their healing! i love child-like faith.
My son does pray about everything and his faith brings home ” Have the faith of a child” in a big way. He prayed once that God would only bring rain on the plants so he could still go ride his bike. 🙂
I wouldn’t give up that class either!
My boys are 3 &4 and I love listening to them talk to Jesus. It’s normally asking him to get them stuff right now LOL But my four year old normally informs my three year old (after he finishes his prayer) of what God can and can’t get him LOL
Thank you for the good laugh today! I literally was laughing out loud reading this. My husband and I also used to teach Sunday School and what great memories we have of those prayer requests!
oh my, how hilarious! do you have any pictures of your great shoe pile? 🙂
Too Funny!
love. it.
Amen.
I was previously a Children’s Director before staying home with my kids and I loved prayer time, You always heard such funny things and I know so many parents that would have died if they knew what their kids told me. The best part was you always have the sweet kid who gives you the most heartfelt request right after a funny one and you have to keep your composure 🙂
I work with Children’s ministry on Wednesday nights at our church. You really can get a window into what Children’s home life is like. It can help you know how to minister to the children and their families.
We’ve had some children describe being in the next room when gunfire erupted because of a drug deal gone bad. We’ve also heard, “Pray for uncle Joey because he got stabbed last night.” In an urban church, there’s no limit to the things you’ll hear during prayer time. These kinds of prayers help me to overlook behavior problems and to come at them with a loving arm, instead of a firmer form of discipline. Some of our kids are only hugged and loved when they walk through the doors of our church.
So cute! My three year old is so fun at prayer time, Over the past year, my husband has experienced a lot of stress and uncertainty with his job. On several occasions my daughter heard me pray for wisdom and strength for my husband, in his situation at work. Well, that girl picked up on those words. NOW, whenever she prays for ANYONE, she prays , ‘and God, please give ______ wisdom and strength. Amen.”
Really, who doesn’t need wisdom and strength? I think is it pretty profound from a 3 yr old!
🙂
So glad to see there’s nothing from my girls!! Please don’t quit!!! You and your hubby are a tremendous blessing to our girls!!
I just caught up on your posts (we had no internet from Friday until today) and watched Maureen’s video. What a blessing she will be to this world! I was just weeping at what she’s lived through, and the impact Compassion has made in her life. Thanks for posting it.
How precious! It’s good they learn at a young age that we CAN go to Him with absolutely anything. He probably gets a good chuckle some times too lol
I love prayer requests from kids! Not only do you get to learn all about their lives, you get to see the faith of a child in action. One time, my son majorly scraped up his toe. After bandaging it and telling him I couldn’t do any more for him, he blurted out, “Can’t you just pray and ask God to heal it?!” It got me to thinking – THAT’S the child-like faith Jesus was talking about. The faith of a child, believing that God can (and WILL) do anything. If only I had that kind of faith….
Ah yes….the prayers of children. They are my favorite, because they are completely honest and hold nothing back. I *know* God has no limits and they have no problem with asking for anything. Little ones will pray about anything…and I wish I was more like that. When we are told to ‘pray without ceasing’, I believe we are to pray about everything and also I think that it means we’re to just chat with God…since praying is talking to God, really. Ya know??
Let’s see…From the mouth of my 2 year old:
“Not scared of fireworks” (this is in August)
“Daddy no say bad words” (a recurring theme during the NCAA championship)
The thing I miss most about teaching Sunday School is listening to little ones pray. Seeing a child’s faith in action is incredibly heart-warming, even if they are only praying about their “annoying little brothers.” 🙂
Hi! Just found your blog and loveit! Think we will participate in your What Works for Me Wednesday this week! At church yesterday a little girl said the prayer and it was so sad. She said, “Please make sure my mom does not die cuz’ yesterday she tried to kill herself by taking too many pills and now she is in the hospital.” I was so sad! Kids are so honest….it was heartbreaking.
I taught a children’s class one time and a little boy told the class that they had found a mouse pill in one of their biscuits that morning. That poor mother.
yes, so sad and not funny a bit. I believe kids feel free to tell us these things b/c they trust us to pray! Will be doing that for her!
I just found my Bible from when I was about 6 or 7 and inside the front cover was my prayer request, for my cat and for dawn’s cat (I dont who dawn was ) and for the cat down the road. I dont recall what was going on but clearly the cats were prayed up.
Adorable!!!
I *do* think it’s adorable and funny, but I also think it’s important to realize that these are serious things to children. Jesus loves children so very much and I think he takes those prayers just as seriously as he takes anyone else’s. I think he also comforts thosw kids who are really worried or extra concerned or confused because they DID come to him in prayer. It’s funny to us, as adults, but kids have an amazing grasp on prayer.
Yes, I know what you’re saying–that’s exactly why we seriously pray for all these-no matter how funny they come across!
Great Post. Thanks for sharing, it was super funny. I teach 2nd grade Sunday School and I also hear some interesting prayer requests. but it is also so nice to hear the younger ones pray and give thanks with sincere hearts
Oh goodness, I needed that laugh tonight! Out of the mouths of babes….
I love how honest these are.
oh, this is so good to hear. out of the mouths of babes for sure. My little one is just 5 months so no words yet. It will be music to my ears to hear his little (big) prayers!
I used to love prayer request time when I had the 3 – 5 year olds. The one I remember the most was when a little boy said (in his sickly voice) he had been sick and began to explain how the day before he ate all of these push up popscicles while jumping on the bed and then he threw up in the trash can. lol
LOVE these! Out of the mouths of babes, right?
As funny as it is, wouldn’t the grown up world be different *Heart and soul* if we were as diligent praying for all the scabs and fights and birthday cake faux pas?!
Might just be a blog post…
LIB
http://bit.ly/cgFPZu
Oh, I had to share that today, in our 4 year old class, one little boy asked for prayer for his mom’s broken ankle. Imagine our surprise when his mom came to pick him up with two perfectly working ankles.
God, You always know what was happened because You see everything a most hidden corner , I come with a broken heart,. God if you deign, please God soften and touch damianus aditya christie heart for me.