Pray Like Kindergarten Students?

Our kindergarten students help put life in perspective for me.

Every week we listen to their prayers of celebration or concern. (They now inform me about how many prayers they have that day.) They tell us about what hurts and who is hurting. They remind us about deceased family members (which also include dead pets). Usually I learn during intercessory prayer time who is absent from class and why they are not there.

The last two weeks during prayer time the kids have been praying about HOW many presents they want to receive. Yes, they are giving me a numerical figure.

When they are feeling generous, I have noticed, this praying student will include, "I want everyone in my class to get a hundred presents!" I've tried to talk to them about what the difference between a prayer request and a wish/hope is. But I am not sure I am communicating this well to our students.

Today, I tried a different approach. After I heard the same sort of prayer, I asked, "So, what are you going to give to someone else this Christmas?" The student didn't miss a beat, "Nothing. Its about presents." He didn't blink. And neither did his classmates.

Stubbornly, I tried again, "But Christmas is about giving AND receiving. What can you give? Can you help around the house? Give a hug? Help with your pet or younger sibling?"

This student, like all the rest of us, was stubborn right back. "I'm not doing that." he said.

Hmmm.... my experience tells me that somehow we leaders and teachers in the church are failing in our jobs. We have failed to teach about the joy of giving. We have rendered this generation faithless because they are not experiencing the deep satisfaction and wonder which comes from giving. Christmas is about giving. God gave. And we are to do our best to imitate that by giving to others.

Or maybe these squirmy bunch of kids cannot help but like getting beautifully wrapped packages from a mysterious jolly guy in a fuzzy red suit- and that is enough. Or is it?