Did You Think To…

Harrison has discovered that prayer is his new secret weapon.

Two days ago we lost the remote. He and I probably searched for a solid ten obnoxious minutes before he pipes up and says, “Hey I know! Let’s say a prayer!” We hit our knees then and there, in the middle of the living room floor. 

With all the faith and fervor of a hopeful five-year-old, he asked that we could please find the remote so he could watch Kung-Fu Panda (because we know Heavenly Father wouldn’t want him to miss that). He finished his prayer with a resounding “amen” and we opened our eyes. Would you believe that as I lifted my head I was staring directly at the remote?

The next day he realized he’d misplaced both his Indiana Jones whips. Since he can’t watch the movie without being in full head dress (he makes me draw chest hair on him all the time), this was a serious problem. He very quickly decided that this whole prayer thing works, and again, hit his knees. Ten minutes later, he had both whips in his faithful little hands.

Last night before going to bed, Rexy lost his swan. Swan is really a very tiny goose, about the size of a walnut, that he takes with him everywhere (along with elephant and giraffe). Swan is always falling into cracks and crevices, and while reading bedtime books I heard Rex drop Swan behind the bed. We got down and looked and looked, but Swan was nowhere to be found. 

You know how it played out. Harrison was thrilled to hear that Swan was missing because it meant he could exercise his incredible new-found faith. We all knelt, Harry prayed, and within seven seconds Swan was back in Rexy’s hot little hands.

Would you like to know the significance of these three little prayers? Harrison got in trouble at school yesterday for spitting. He was pretty upset about it, especially after I made him apologize to his teacher after school.

As he knelt to pray this morning, I heard him pour his little five-year-old soul out to Heavenly father, asking that he could listen and not talk at school and be good for the teacher and be a better boy and be kind and learn to keep the commandments and get a new Kung Fu Panda costume. 

Watching my boy discover, on his own, the power of prayer, and then seeing him apply it is possibly one of the highlights of my entire life. Harrison is proof that God is involved in the details of our lives. Nothing is insignificant to Him if it matters to us. 

Except perhaps Kung Fu Panda. Don’t see how He’ll make good on that one without a little help from me.


Comments

  1. My daughter had a similar experience when she was about 6 and lost her beloved stuffed puppy that she couldn’t sleep with.

    Makes me wonder what happens to that child-like faith as we age.

  2. So sweet. I love the faith of little children and how simple they make it seem. Those are proud parent moments…when you realize that your children are learning and growing in the gospel…and how cute was his little prayer, I love it!

  3. Those are great examples of the power of prayer 🙂
    Watching our children grow spiritually is definetly a huge highlight.

  4. What a wonderful post. Thanks for sharing this sweet story!

    I am one of your silent readers, I love your blog.

    It sounds like you have a marvelous family and a wonderful young son learning the gospel. We learn so much as mother’s from our little ones.

  5. That is a sweet story. Please, I hope you’ll share with us the Rest of the Story when he prays and doesn’t get what he wants. Because you know it’s going to happen someday.

  6. What a sweet little guy!

  7. Annie you are so cute, I just love you in a cyperspace way!

    And I won’t really burn those Jacob shirts, because now that Summit gave the green light for New Moon, Jacob is going to be a hot commodity!! Hold on to those shirts, Twilight isn’t going away for a long time!!

  8. I had an experience with a lost Barbie doll at age eight that was similarly resolved, and I’m amazed at the number of times over the years that I’ve thought back to that.

  9. I totally do this all the time, thanks to my always losing things all the time. And it does usually work. Makes you smile to think that Heavenly Father cares if you find your car keys, thus preventing the immenent nervous breakdown.

  10. I lost my favorite jacket recently. Can Harrison please say a prayer that I’ll find it?

  11. That’s awsome. My kids’ prayers usually go like this: “Thank you for the food, please bless us be safe, thank you for the food, please bless us be safe……thank you for the food….amen.” So I’m thinking we might want to work on that. Maybe I’ll hide things so that I can tell my kids to pray for them, and then HEY LOOK, we found it. Does it work that way? Or should lightning be coming through the window at me now…

  12. I’ll never forget losing my car keys at a primary activity at church. My faithful little saints suggested praying, and ME AND MY NEGATIVITY AND ZERO FAITH didn’t want to – honestly, if we DIDN’T find them, it would destroy the testimonies of ten little eight-year-old girls.

    But we prayed.

    And we found them

    So that taught ME.

  13. I kind of was going to say what Lisa said, because I rock at pessimism and I like to play to my strengths, but the fact is that I’m really trying to believe that if he could somehow keep that kind of perfect faith that he would never lose anything that he couldn’t find.

    So good for him. And good for you supermom!

  14. Oh and I was going to point out how the Lord is helping you see so much good in your son that your heart melts and you want to buy him a Kung-Fo Panda costume and well, then He’s done that too.

  15. Whenever we lose something and decide to pray about it, I always offer my own little prayer that we can PLEASE find it so their faith won’t be destroyed.

    I swear, if kids are involved, it always works. Except with the dog, but I was kind of glad about that one.

  16. Sweetest thing ever! I love real life gospel moments like this!

    Best one for me: I used to teach sunbeams, and one of my 3 yr.olds went on a trip with his family and misplaced his teddy bear. (He had refused to pack it, so his parents insisted they put his name and address on it, thank goodness. ) Anyway, it got lost in the shuffle at an airport in California of all places, and the family pretty much gave up ever finding it.

    For weeks and weeks after the trip, this little boy prayed and prayed that his teddy bear would be returned to him. His dad was all ready to buy him another one, when lo and behold, on his birthday three months later, guess what he got in the mail? Some Good Samaritan business man found teddy in a bathroom stall (how did the janitors miss it for three months, I’d like to know!) and mailed it to my little sunbeam.

    This kid is now thirteen years old and passing the sacrament, and has the faith of Moses. It’s amazing what real life experiences can do for children!

  17. Loved this post. It’s now my favorite and the bra that doubles as a purse is moved to second. I’m going to link to this particular post on a slow day at sevenvillageidiarts. . . you’re the best. We’ll be at Disneyland tomorrow. . . I just forked out something like $1200 bucks for 9 tickets (we’re taking my brother and a babysitter) and I just can’t believe you’re getting tickets to DWorld for free. You Rock!

  18. I’m going to try to make my comment in a limerick..because I’m on a kick, since I entered your sisters contest…
    Isn’t it cute when they pray
    It makes me shout HOORAY
    when they do as they’re told
    and they follow the Lord
    it makes me want to want to hold a parade…

    (OK, agreed, that was lame, but not as lame as my outfit I’m wearing..)

  19. Like father like son. You know those candid still pictures or short video clips of you life that you ahve you you were a child. One of my most memorable was when I was in kindergarten….I was sitting in my chair doing my homework and all of the sudden, I just decided to turn my head and spit on the carpet floor behind me. And guess who was sitting right behind me….Mrs. Lautrup, my teacher. This spitting thing in kindergarten must be a Tintle boy right of passage.