More on Prayer

I guess when God wants you to learn something, He makes it known. Last night I was reading from "The Seeking Heart" by Fenelon and of course the following popped out at me since I had just blogged on this topic:

"Although you have lived far from Him, you need not be afraid to come to Him like a child. Tell Him how weak and miserable you are, tell Him what you need and what bothers you. You may even tell Him that sometimes you are not exactly thrilled to serve Him. "You cannot speak too freely or too truthfully to Him. He likes simple people and talks with them often. Put away all your grand ideas and just be honest with Him."

Dishonest prayer

Yesterday my brother-in-law said something more profound than he probably realized. We were talking about prayers, specifically, “grace” (blessing a meal) and how we so often just say a memorized prayer without really thinking. His comment was that we just weren’t being honest when we pray like that. He’s right. So many rote prayers have lost their meaning – we don’t even realize what we are praying anymore, thanking God when we aren’t really grateful… asking for something we probably don’t really want. (e.g., “Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful”… ever wonder what it looks like when God makes you truly thankful for something? What will he take away to accomplish that purpose?)

I am guilty of dishonest prayer. Often I want to pray (1) what I think God wants to hear or (2) what I think is the 'right' way to feel or (3) when praying aloud, what I think the other people in the room want or need to hear. How are we supposed to pray? Let’s face it, God knows exactly what is on our hearts and minds. Shouldn’t we really just be honest with God and tell Him what we are really thinking and feeling? I think I’ll take a few minutes in the next day or so to tell God how I’m feeling, to tell Him about some of my disappointments with how things are going right now, to thank him for my MANY blessings and to let Him know how grateful I am for his grace this Easter Sunday.

How can we get to know God if we aren’t even having honest communication with him?

"That nauseating, foul, unclean, repulsive television screen"

We are trying our best to keep our son away from the television for as long as possible. Yes, even the “educational” stuff. Recently we found a link on a news website that gives us good reason to continue with this plan. Here is an exerpt but you can check out the full article at: http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/money/brainybaby/harm.html


Dr. Dimitri Christakis is a pediatrician and lead researcher at the Children’s Hospital in Seattle. Christakis was curious about the rise in attention problems in kids. He conducted a long-term study with almost 1,300 children and found that TV may be too much to handle for developing brains.

“There’s something called the ‘orienting response,’” Christakis explains.

“Our minds are conditioned to immediately stop paying attention to what we're currently focusing on if we hear or see something that seems strange. Television actually explicitly exploits that, in the case of young children.

"[TV] rapidly changes images and scenery. Sights and sounds are constantly evolving. As a result, children are unable to disengage from it...

"We're changing images so very rapidly, it's unlike anything that anyone could actually experience in reality... Our concern has been that children will view everything else as boring by comparison.

"[The baby] is being entertained, but you can think of it, in a sense, like brain candy. It's very, very enjoyable for her mind to watch it, but just like candy, things consumed in excess can potentially be harmful."

Christakis found that for every hour of television toddlers watch, their risk of attention problems goes up 10 per cent by the time they're seven years old. If toddlers watch two hours a day, the risk of attention problems climbs 20 per cent – and so on.


Another study someone recently sited to me suggested television actually harms the brains of children up to 8 years of age. One of the crazy things about this topic is how potentially difficult it could be for us to keep our child away from the tube in the first place. We can't always completely control our child's environment (i.e., with babysitters, at a friend's house, etc). And what is it going to cost us? Perhaps I may need to offend a friend? I suppose I might need to watch a little less myself. Perhaps not have a television set up in my living/family room? Is it worth that to me? It certainly should be. I know most of us could turn the T.V. off a little more often and sit down to a good book.

It seems to me that too many people are using the television as an easy way to keep children distracted and occupied. As the article said, "[TV] rapidly changes images and scenery... As a result, children are unable to disengage from it..." Let me state that last phrase again with emphasis. "Children are UNABLE to disengage from it." That's quite the babysitter! Could turning on the television for your children even be considered neglect? Abuse? Am I going too far? I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Famous author Roald Dahl, in the 1960s, put this topic into poem more briliantly than anything else I’ve seen. Here it is. Please read it completely. It's so great.

"Mike Teavee..." (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl)

"The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set–
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all the shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink–
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK–HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY...USED...TO...READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic takes
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy–Winkle and–
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How The Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole–
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks–
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start–oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hears. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

Jonah's Activities

Daddy reading to Jonah. Jonah loves books!

In fact, Jonah amuses himself QUITE well without a television around!