Thanks man

"God is great.  God is good.  Now we thank Him for our food."  I couldn't even begin to think how many times I said that grace before meal as a little child.  It had to be a ton of times.  In my early days, the family (meaning my sister or I) prayed when at the meal table at meal time.  And ever since, it has always been a bit of a treat to hear some little child pray that way for a meal when I have been around to hear it.

That was a simplistic prayer, one I am sure must have been made just for cherubic little children....easy to learn, easy to remember, and easy to say...and coming from the mouths and hearts of little children, very seriously prayed.

Sometimes I think we adults get too complicated about praying.  Especially when praying with others.  So often, at least to my mind, for some reason we feel we have to sound "churchy" in our prayers.  I suspect that may well carry over to our evening prayers, whether with family or alone.  Somewhere along the line I think a lots of us have the notion that we have to talk with God in some "special" way.

Consider this.  In general, when conversing with others, are you pretty much consistent in how you converse with them...whether it is family, friends, strangers, associates, or work?  What I'm getting at here is why converse differently with God?  If we consider that he is Abba, Our Father, why can't we just talk with Him as we would talk with our earthly father?  Jesus, God's son, conversed the same with those on earth He came in contact with, as He did with His father...God.  Why should we be any different?

I think sometimes we just try to get too complicated when we pray.  We want to "sound right".  I think we have this underlying feeling that if we don't "sound right" we aren't right....and that is a bunch of bunk.  I myself feel so much freer just being simple in my prayers.  I feel more honest and open when I stumble sometimes when praying, and I tend not to be wordy and "churchy" because that just isn't the real me...and when I am praying I really want the real me praying to the real God...just having a conversation with Him...just like I would with my dad were he still alive.

Sometimes simple is just better.