Daily Excerpt: Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers (McGregor): Introduction
Excerpt from Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers
Introduction
This
book is for you—whatever your
religious affiliation—even if you have no religious affiliation at all. This
book is for you, whether you’re a Protestant, Jew, or Catholic, a member of one
of the many other religions of the world, or an unaffiliated believer, long
away from the religion you were brought up in but still a believer in God and
desirous of communicating with Him. This book is for you, whether you’re a
devout and regular church or temple-goer or a person who hasn’t set foot in a
house of worship for years but sees God in every field of flowers and every
glorious sunrise—whether you are a person who, in a recent times of trouble or
joy, is rediscovering a need to communicate with the Almighty or a person who
is raising a small child and wants that child’s life to include a relationship
with God, whether or not your child also attends formal worship services.
This is a book made of paper and
ink, not a set of carved tablets. So, please feel free to take liberties with
the prayers you find here and adapt them to suit your needs and beliefs. If
there’s a word or phrase you want to omit or to add, please do so. If you’re
Christian and want to substitute Jesus’s name for God’s in any of the prayers,
please do so. If you want to substitute Thou for You or You
for Thou (I’ve used both forms in the prayers in this book), by all
means, do that as well. If you want to add, “This we ask in Jesus’s name” or
“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” by all means, do that,
too. Prayers are very individual and very personal, and I don’t believe anyone
has the right to tell you how to pray. Most certainly, I don’t! But for those
seeking suitable prayers for particular times or occasions, I’ve written a
collection that I hope will suit your needs, a collection that you are
certainly free to change, adapt, and make your own.
Inside this book are prayers for
both adults and children. There are prayers for such calendar occasions as Thanksgiving
and patriotic holidays; prayers for personal occasions, such as birthdays and
anniversaries; and prayers for such occasions as moving into a new house or a
child starting school. There are prayers of supplication and prayers thanking
God for prayers answered and wishes granted. There are prayers of grace for
before meals and bedtime prayers for adults as well as children. Whatever the
occasion, you’re likely to find a prayer in this book to cover it, or one that
can be easily adapted to cover it.
If your child is too young to read
and you want him or her to say one of the prayers in this book, I suggest you
read a phrase at a time aloud, then have your child repeat what you just said.
I also suggest you ask him afterward if he understands the prayer he just said,
and if he doesn’t, go over it with him and explain what it means. I believe
prayers should be more than words repeated by rote with little comprehension of
the meaning. If you want your child to enter into a sincere, meaningful and ongoing
dialogue with God, it helps for him to understand the prayers he is uttering.
Don’t feel you have to find a
special time and place to pray. God is everywhere, and God is in your heart, so
wherever you are, when you feel the desire to talk to Him, He will hear you. He
will hear you if you pray standing, sitting, driving your car, or jogging. He
will hear you if you pray in your bathtub, in your office, on the subway, or as
you pull weeds in your garden, and He will hear you whether you pray silently
or aloud. You don’t have to open your mouth, just your soul. Talk to Him! If
there are certain times, though, when you think you want to talk to Him
regularly, such as before meals, at bedtime, or at the start of a new day,
there are prayers in here that will suit those needs, too.
Regardless of whether you need prayers
for certain times or just for when the occasion demands, and regardless of your
religious affiliation, I hope this book helps you.
For more posts about Cyn and her book -- and excerpts -- click HERE.
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