On the other hand there is something so sacred about sitting together with the lights dimmed, the house quiet and being gathered together intentionally - just to be in God's presence.
As a kid I was taught "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." I said this prayer each night.
As parents The Hubby and I decided to say prayers with our kids before they could ever understand what we were doing. I began to say the same prayer I grew up with. However, as a new parent I stumbled over this prayer. We learned a new version, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, guide and guard me through the night and wake me with the morning's light."
Each night my children still say this prayer and now we have added "Blessings". We ask God to bless others. And then one of our children added "Extra Special Blessings". These are our prayers of petition for those we feel need extra prayers, are carrying extra burdens, who are going through extra hard times. Then we end with the Lord's Prayer.
Last evening one of my children during Extra Special Blessings stated "Mom, we need to pray for single parents. I think single parents have the hardest job ever. I just don't know how they do it. I mean look at how hard you work for us every single day and you have help when you get tired or really frustrated. It's hard work, Mom. I mean, what if you were a single mom and you had to have surgery? That means your job wouldn't pay you, you couldn't feed us. And you would need time to get better and you wouldn't be able to keep up with all the laundry and making dinner. You probably couldn't even put us to bed. Who helps Moms who are sick, Mom? Who?"
Who indeed. It opened up a good discussion about how hard it is to be a parent, even harder to not have a helpmate. We talked about how you really need your family and friends to support, love and help you. And then I could ask my child the question - "Who indeed do you think is the greatest helper for single parents?" "God! God is always there. But Mom, God doesn't do the laundry, just sayin'."
When the lights go out we have an opportunity to sit in the darkness with others and ask the hard questions. We might not have answers. We might have answers that beg more questions. These conversations are sacred. We become Listeners. We give the gift of our presence. We allow time to explore the deepest thoughts of other's hearts. There is something about the intimate darkness of nighttime prayers that allow us to reveal hard questions, hurts and sorrows and open them up for each other. We can sit together and just listen. We can sit together in the presence of God.
May you hear each other's prayers this evening and always.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27 (NRSV)
