When Kids Pray

I’m convinced that God loves to answer the prayers of children.  Sometimes, when my kids pray, I’m reminded that God really does care about the little things in life. 

Just yesterday, I promised my kids we would celebrate the first Sunday of Lent by going to see a play – The Boxcar Children – at our local children’s theater.  

I realize this doesn’t sound very exciting to most of you, but you must understand that we absolutely love the Boxcar series.  I stopped counting after Nick read book #70, and he even re-read the first book right before the play and brought it with him for “reference.”   He even read it out loud to us in the car as we drove to the show.

Which is why we were more than devastated when we walked up to the ticket booth, only to read a sign that said SOLD OUT!  In fact, the show had been sold out for weeks.  Like usual, I should have planned ahead.  And, worse yet, it was the very last day of the show and the very last performance. 

Can’t we just wait and see if there are extra tickets, I asked the lady in the ticket booth.  Can’t we stand in the back? We can even wait until after the show starts and buy any empty seats.

The tickets were already sold.  She couldn’t double charge for the same tickets.  And we couldn’t take someone else’s seats that were already pre-paid – what if they came late to the show?  No.  I’m so sorry.  I just can’t.  You need to call ahead next time.

The kids and I sat down on a nearby bench, dumbfounded.  Nick kept asking if we could go to the next show, and I kept telling him there was no next show, but he wasn’t hearing me.  Anna started sulking, and Abby started asking why everyone walking into the show had tickets -- everyone but us.

I was ready to give up.  Then we decided to pray.  Dear God, we know that you can still get us tickets.  We still want to see the show.

We watched another family walk up to the booth with the same luck.  More disappointed faces.  I heard the grandmother even claim that she had tried to call ahead, and then she got into an argument with the ticket lady.  No tickets.

We didn’t move from our bench.  We waited.  And just as the show started, the ticket lady approached us and said, I can give you three tickets – the little one will have to sit on a lap.

I’ll never forget the look on Nick’s face.  It wasn’t just the face of a kid who was excited to see a play – it was the face of a kid who saw firsthand that God answers prayer.

The prayers of children are powerful.  I often think the floodgates of heaven might just open if some of us started approaching God with childlike faith.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14