Lord, Teach Me to Pray

Ah, quiet. This is the time of day that I am learning to love. Everyone is asleep, the television is off, cell phones aren’t ringing.

I used to hate silence. I used to hate it so much that I would always have something on. Whether it be the TV or a CD or anything that would make noise. I hated to be alone with my thoughts. And now I am learning to love the silence.

The past few weeks, the Lord has really convicted me about how much I don’t pray. I waste so much time during my day when I could be praying. Instead of having Elmo or Veggie Tales on for the seventeenth time and mindlessly going about my day, I could be praying. Instead of allowing other people to teach my children, and “riding the wave” of my day, I should be teaching my children. That’s not to say that teaching doesn’t get done around our house, but I find myself too often using outside sources to entertain my kids while I’m selfishly doing things that I want to do. I don’t want to be that kind of parent anymore. I want so much to teach my children the ways of the Lord, and to see them grow up to be Godly people. And that doesn’t happen by accident. So, even though my kids are young right now, and my daughter doesn’t understand many concepts besides “don’t hit” or “finish eating”, God has given me this wonderful opportunity to pray. To pray that their souls would be saved, and that they would grow up to be a great man and woman of the faith.