What My 9-Year-Old Taught Me About Prayer

Joni Lynn Schwartz
14 minutes ago
2 min read

The other weekend we made the long drive from central Minnesota to Iowa for our nephew’s graduation. After 7 1/2 hours in the car we were more than ready to get out and do something. We stayed at a VRBO that was big enough for my stepson and his family to stay with us, and shortly after we unloaded, more family arrived to hang out for the evening.

The next morning the girls and I had some extra time before the grad party, so we decided to get in a little shopping. First stop was Tribe Boutique to visit my sister-in-law’s store.

The 15-year-old found several outfits she loved (remember When Things No Longer Fits?) while the 9-year-old spent her time carefully picking out a charm for her necklace.

The graduation party had everything for a perfect spring day — warm sunshine, a food truck, family, friends, outdoor games, and yummy desserts. After enjoying the food my kids found their cousins and ended up spending the last hour running around playing tag and laughing.

As we were getting ready to leave, the panic hit. My youngest discovered that her charm was gone.

We retraced steps inside and out, checked pockets, searched the grass, looked through the car, and walked everywhere we had been. No charm.

I think most of the adults had already decided it was probably gone for good. I told her that I could get her another charm, but the 9-year-old was still clearly upset. On the drive back to the VRBO, she prayed that God would help us find it and then sang “Jesus Loves Me” over and over from the backseat.

Listening to her pray and sing made me think about Matthew 18:3:

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

My 9-year-old definitely understands persistence. If she wants something, she will ask me on repeat until I finally cave. Apparently she uses the same tactic with God.

I could probably learn a few things from her persistent relationship with Him. Too often I hold onto my worries, try to fix things myself first, or toss up a quick one-time prayer and move on. Meanwhile, she kept praying and kept singing to the God who cares about the things that matter to her.