The wisdom of a two year old

Megumi recently started volunteering to pray whenever we hold hands together to pray as a family (meal times, bed time, before sending Mike off to work...etc.)  She used to mumble and say "amen!" at the end or repeat words after us.  But her first prayer using her own words went like this right before she went to bed: "Dear God, thank you for bed.  Thank you for laptop.  Thank you for blanket.  Jesus prays.  Amen!"  You can imagine how my heart swelled with joy and pride as I heard my little girl say her own prayer to God.  So simple yet so true.  Ever since then, her prayer differs but she always ends with "Jesus prays..Amen!" and I love that.  Isn't that what "In Jesus' name we pray" means?! That Jesus is our high priest interceding on our behalf? Oh the wisdom of a two year old!

I have to be honest.  Holiday season is hard. Lately I've been quite jealous of all the pictures on Facebook of the people wearing cute jackets and boots holding their steaming Starbucks cup in the snow.  I know...I know...I can't complain.  I have this gorgeous Atlantic Ocean spreading out in front of me outside the window as I type this and I just went snorkeling with my husband last Friday.  But living here, we tend to focus on what we "miss" than on what we have.

One of the things I usually tell my friends that I miss about living in the States is a playground for the kids.  I miss the slide, the swing set and all the fun things to climb on!  But looking at Megumi this morning with her friends giggling over a simple post at the port, they reminded me that we really don't need much to be happy.  She's not "missing out" because she doesn't have a cool playground to play on.  Instead of a climbing wall, we have a huge tree.  Instead of a sand box, we have a pile of sand.  Instead of a swing set, we have a hammock.
 Oh the wisdom of a two year old!

When I explained to Megumi that it's good to tell God what we are thankful for in our prayers, she smiled and started praying: "Dear God, thank you for A...thank you for M....thank you for B....thank you for C...thank you for..."  She continued to list all of her friends and let me tell you, it was quite a list!  No, she's not missing out at all.