Lately this sweet little one has had a renewed interest in praying. For a while she hasn’t wanted to pray when we’ve asked her to, and we haven’t pushed it. Recently she’s been spontaneously praying throughout the day or asking to pray at meals or bed time. Her prayers are so sweet, so profound even though she has no intention of being profound. Often she asks the Lord to help her obey, thanks Him for the wonderful life He’s given us.
I recently received this child’s book to review and it seemed appropriate to dig into it this week with my daughter. It is part of an “interactive, fun-filled series that uses a train locomotive theme as a method for teaching kids core Christian beliefs and principles.” Some of the other books in the series cover basic theological topics such as baptism, church, faith, grace, salvation, worship, etc. The series is inspired by the familiar scripture in Proverbs:
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).
Naturally, the book and the accompanying CD start off with the child’s song “Get on Board, Little Children.” We listened to the whole book on CD as we turned pages and then listened to many sweet children’s bible songs about prayer sung by a chorus of children.
My little one enjoyed the book but kept asking who the children were, what their names were. I think it was maybe difficult for her to connect with it since it wasn’t written in story form but more conceptually. I’m not sure what the target age is for this series but it would probably make a great homeschooling resource or supplement to bible study time with kids who are early elementary aged. The book ends with a simple quiz about the concepts covered. I thought it was a sweet, easy-to-use resource that we will return to. And we will definitely listen to the CD as well!
What strikes me is how naturally prayer comes to children. How they don’t try to dissect and understand prayer, but rather just talk with their heavenly Father, sharing the ramblings of their little hearts. How much we can learn from them about prayer!
* * * * *
Tyndale House Publishers sent me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My review is not required to be favorable, and the opinions expressed are my own.
everything He gives 