Every night before bed, Laura says the Lord’s prayer and then does blessings for people. Without fail, her blessings start with “Mommy, and Daddy, and Warren, and me.” She will add in other people in her life as she thinks about them. The past few nights she has started adding in Helen, Sammy, Sammy’s mom, and the other kids at daycare with her. I find two things interesting here.
1. She is not afraid to ask for blessings for herself. In all the years that I have done prayers aloud (mainly group settings), I don’t think I have ever heard a person directly pray for blessings for himself. I have heard them ask for blessings and someone else will pray for them. But to be so bold as Laura is and directly ask God to bless her is quite a lesson. Jesus tells us we need to have faith like a child. I feel that Laura is teaching me to what extent this is. Not only do we need to just accept, but we can be bold in our prayers. I also find it interesting that she does not mention herself until after the other members of the immediate family are blessed. She does however, ask for her blessings before she blesses any of the extended family or friends. I don’t know if she really has a reasoning for why she does it in this order. I have tried really hard to not force a certain pattern to her blessings. I will guide and ask if there is anyone else, or if she is naming off family members and forgets a few, I will help her with those people that were forgotten. I have never once mentioned that she should or should not bless herself. I also have not ever mentioned an order to her for the blessings.
2. She has just started to add others to her blessings. She has typically kept it to be just family (including grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins). We had asked her a few times if we should bless Pastor John, but she denied that without giving a reason. Then out of the blue a few nights ago, she started adding in Helen, Sammy, and the others. I don’t know what prompted this. I don’t know what her line of thinking is. It does make me happy that she is starting to think of others outside of her family though. 