Bryun Lemon
Hot dang! Something that started out as a frustrated dad has evolved into a ‘wow!’ experience and a new tradition for the Lemons. Here’s the scoop:
Over the course of a few weeks, our family prayers had become a list of things the kids wanted from God. For three days, nobody even said ‘thank you’ for ANYTHING! So, after one such prayer from our 9-year-old, where she went through her laundry list of wants and needs and before she could finish, I interrupted her and asked her to start over and only say what she was thankful for. She did, and came up with two things before ending.
After that prayer, I told the kids that for the rest of the week, family prayers and meal prayers could only include things we were grateful for – no PBU’s (“Please Bless Us…”). They did it, and it was neat to see them digging for things they were grateful for. Some of the sweetest prayers I’ve heard in our family came during that week, and by the end of the week, they didn’t need the dad ‘meep’ (the sound dad makes when someone started to ask for something) anymore.
At the end of the week, our family decided to go the rest of November without PBU’s in our family prayers. A few days after that, one of the kids talked about how they thought it was a great tradition to have during November because that’s when Thanksgiving is.
So…that’s our new November tradition, and hopefully it sticks with all our prayers long after that!