Out of the Mouths of Babes

     I am constantly amazed by the things my children say.  Whether little cute sayings or profound words of wisdom, I am moved beyond compare at what comes out of their mouths.  In order to be fair, though, I will not just say this is limited to my own children, at least not just to children who I birthed.  There have been others before and since, especially one group of 24 children as a whole.

     During my second year in Jerusalem, my 2nd grade students decided to play matchmaker between myself and another teacher who the elementary school had delightfully dubbed "Dr. Smiley."  No, he was not their dentist.  He was their art teacher.  It got so ridiculous that they started bringing it up a s a prayer request in the morning.  They were so determined that even the kids who usually had no requests started writing it down on their little pieces of paper; "I pray that Miss Gina and Dr. Smiley will get married and have many, a thousand babies."

     I tried to explain at first that you pray for God's will, not your own, to be done, and that other people had wills too.  But that only fueled the fire.  New notes came in; "I want that God would make them marry because they should."  I gave up and let them just slowly realize that sometimes God says no...or to allow them to get the joking mentality out of their system.

     Four years later I walked into their 6th grade classroom to speak with them.  I had a praise report.  I told them that something they had all prayed for had come to pass, that God had heard their prayers and said, "Yes."  Even after the passing of time, they all remembered.  Several of them instantly said, "You are going to marry Dr. Richard!"  They were awed by the fact that God had answered their prayers in the affirmative.

     Looking back I have to smile, both in loving remembrance of the grins on their faces at the time of the requests and in wonder.  I have never questioned the power of prayer since first realizing it, but this was something new to me.  Did they really have the insight at the same age my Nyssa is now, to realize a real match made in Heaven when they saw one?  Or was God feeding that to them so that years later they would know that He cares enough about a class full of 7-year old children to answer their prayers?  I'm not completely sure.  I will tell you of one thing I am certain, though.  Now when my children pray, I lend a more sensitive ear, because I never know what profound kernel of truth will proceed from the mouths of my babes.