Learning To Speak

Children learning to talk is a very interesting experience. They start out sometimes with hand motions if taught and that turns into mumbling incoherent words. Most children don't start saying proper words until they are about one and a half years old. Even at that the words they learn don't exactly mean what they think when they learn them. For instance our son first learned the sign language motion for “more” and then started to say the word “more” as time went on. In his mind when he says the word “more” he actually means to say that he would like food. He has now learned the word “snack” in the context of wanting to have fruit snacks. Quickly he has come to understand that the word “snack” refers to small edible items that we give to him in a pile; whether it is fruit snacks, cereal, chocolate chips or even raisins. Those are only a few of his favorite snacks. Soon, as we work with him on his language, he will understand more words and how asking for things specifically will get him what he wants without getting frustrated. We do not understand most of what he is saying and that is no ones fault of course. It is our job as parents to help him to learn the proper way to speak and how words and language work. Isn't that true when we are praying or learning how to pray? When we are young our parents, if you grew up in the family that I did, would teach us to pray for our meal. We would have said something like, “Dear God thank for this day and thank you for the food and in Jesus name amen.” That was a staple prayer in my house growing up. Very quick and easy and extremely ritualistic. I think God heard that one too many times from my mouth. I had tended to forget that as I grew older that God wanted to hear more from me and not just for my food and the day He gave me. How does this connect to the learning to speak you ask? Allow me to share with you the comparison I discovered. Both presumably start while we are yet still young. We needed food and we are taught the words to receive the food. We need a hug and we are taught to open our arms to receive a hug. Sometimes we need help in doing something, that as a child we do not understand how to do. The same teaching can be applied when we pray. As a matter of fact we are taught to pray, of course, by Jesus himself. In Matthew 6:8-13 it reads Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. The way the Prayer breaks down is this: First we start by crying out to God and glorifying His name. Second we acknowledge His existence and might and power in Heaven and on Earth. Thirdly we give Him thanks for the provisions He has blessed us with. The fourth part is sometimes hard to do as we do not always think of doing so. In the fourth part of the prayer we are to acknowledge the people who have wronged us in some way and to openly forgive them as we are forgiven by God. This is further explained after the Prayer in Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” I think that explanation is pretty straight forward. The Fifth part is more of a pleading to God to not be tempted into Sin. This of course is promised in another passage that states that we will not be tempted beyond what we are able to withstand. But on the other hand Paul says in Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. The sixth part in The Lord's Prayer is simply a closing and an acknowledgment to signify that we are completed in the prayer. As children learn to speak and effectively communicate, we teach very similarly to the way God teaches us how to pray. Our children first learn to cry out to us as parents, “big people” or adults. Then they acknowledge that we are here to help them when they are in need or simply need a hug. Third we teach them to thank someone when they receive the thing for which they asked. The fourth part is much a synonym as The Lord's Prayer. We are to teach our children the effects of forgiveness in the way they communicate. The Fifth and Sixth parts come naturally as we communicate to them how to properly and effectively speak to others. The fifth part could be compared to teaching them right and wrong. And the sixth part could be the acknowledgment that they understand what we are saying.