Why Pray?

I was rummaging around at church a few weeks ago helping with some Christmas decorating and came across a pile of papers and books that had been set aside. The children’s book that caught my eye was called WHY DO PEOPLE PRAY? The book featured sketches of children on the cover representing both boys and girls and of different ethnic backgrounds. The author of the book was Jean H. Richards and the illustrator was June Goldsborough. The copyright year on the book was 1965.

The opening page had these words:

“All over the world people pray. They pray because they need God. They pray because they believe God understands them. They pray because they believe God hears them and will help them not to be lonely or afraid. He helps them to be happy.”

The next page is expressed this way:

“God wants us to pray to him. He made us to be his children and he wants us to know that he loves us and he wants us to love him. He wants us to feel that we can always talk to him about anything at all. This is why people pray. This is why I want to pray.”

I think those words and images are tender and inviting. They make me want to communicate with God the almighty one who has my best interests in his care.

It would seem that my prayer inspiration for today has come from children’s literature–how appropriate!