STORY - Meet a family that prays together

Aurora invited Andrina Manning, a teacher at St Peter’s Stockton, to share some of her family’s prayer rituals.

Prayer has always played a significant role in my life.

My mother encouraged prayers before bedtime from as young as I could remember and as I grew older I learned to use prayer as a way of taking time out, of finding peace, when seeking guidance or when giving thanks.

As a teacher I have been given the opportunity to show young children the importance of prayer and how they can make it part of their daily lives through rituals such as morning and afternoon prayer, grace before lunch and through other more reflective ways such as meditation and class prayer time.

Now, I am married to Steve and mother to two very energetic young boys, aged 4 and 2, and I am keen for them to experience prayer and to make it part of their daily lives. From the time they were babies we have read to them from the children’s bibles that were given to each of them at their baptism. Each time we find the stories from the Old Testament about the men who share their names, Daniel and Isaac.

Life is very busy, we always seem to be juggling work, home, sport, friends, family (something we can all relate to), and it is the quiet reflective times such as prayer time that can easily go by the wayside. I know when it is the end of a very long day and the kids are tired, you are tired and your partner is tired, all you want to do is eat dinner and put the children to bed so that you can then set about preparing for the next day - to do it all over again! After a mad dash around the kitchen the dinner is served, the food is going cold quickly and the children are already trying to start. It would be so much easier to let everybody start eating and just skip the prayer but there is something to be said for the tone of the meal when you have taken a minute or two to stop and say thanks.

Bedtime is the same. Making a prayer part of the routine helps to settle the boys before lights out. We have been teaching the boys how to make the sign of the cross. The type of prayer that we say varies from night to night. There are the ones that we have made up, the prayers that come from the children’s prayer book and then there are the ones that Daniel (the four year old) makes up himself.

Prayer does not have to be only a ritual. When opportunities present themselves, grab them! Recently my three-year-old nephew underwent life-threatening surgery that required the surgeons to work on his spine and brain. When we got home from work and the babysitter that evening we lit a special candle and said a prayer to ask God to watch over him. This was not something that took a lot of preparation but the boys, particularly Daniel, felt that they were making an important contribution to helping their cousin.

Prayer can come alive in the lead up to and during special occasions. Last year Daniel was very excited about Christmas. Every morning he would get up and move the star on our Advent calendar and counted the days till Santa would come and leave presents and we would celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Each night in Advent before bedtime we lit a candle, placed it next to the nativity scene and said our bedtime prayers.

Prayer has always been a part of my life and I want the boys to experience prayer in their lives too.

If you would like to share your family’s rituals, please contact the Editor.

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