Out of the Mouths (and Hands) of Preschoolers
We’re going to make our prayer flags tonight. But one of our minimonks has already been praying his little heart out. I ran into Ian (age 4.5) and his mom, Jen, in the fabric store earlier this week. Ian and I talked about how the picture’s he’d been drawing about the hurricane were like prayers. This is what Jen sent me on email later that day:
R,
I thought you might appreciate this…
This afternoon when Ian and I came home, he wanted to make more pictures of the Katrina floods. We talked about the pictures being prayers, but then I wanted to let him try making a little prayer shrine with them. We set up one of his pictures, a toy coast guard helicopter (2 actually – 1 for rescues, and 1 for the one that crashed), some bread and water, a few coins, a plastic tupperware dish filled with water and leggo houses, a candle and a cross. He’s been so engaged with it all afternoon – thinking of things to add to it and moving around the things that are there.
Jennifer
Beautiful, simply beautiful……..
How heartwarming. Ironically, I hung a new set of Tibetan prayer flags in my patio last weekend. But to think you do this with kids. Great idea! And Ian and Jennifer sound special, that’s for sure.
Kids understand God so much better than we do. My son (5) is very worried about heaven - what was it like before he was in my tummy? what does God look like? does God have good toys in heaven? The other night at dinner he said “when you die you go back to God’s tummy”. My husband and I just looked at each other. What a thought - heaven as a womb - safe and warm.