Where Is the Please?

Well, there was no doubt; I had to remember to pray differently than I was used to praying - especially if The Lord's Prayer was involved. Why a change? It is all tied to a very interesting insight supplied by my then six-year-old granddaughter (today she is about to turn 22 and is married).

At the chapel on the nearby base where our son-in-law and family were stationed in Belgium with the Air Force, The Lord's Prayer was often recited in unison by the congregation. After one service, our daughter commented to our granddaughter that she had heard her reciting the Lord's Prayer and that she had done very well. Our granddaughter replied that the prayer wasn't very nice. When our daughter inquired as to why the prayer wasn't nice, our granddaughter responded: "It says 'give us this day our daily bread,' and you don't even say 'Please!'"

That caught me off guard. But it did start me to thinking. How often do I (or any of us for that matter) pray to God with an attitude that we are deserving and He needs to take care of our needs right now? While I don't believe that was the attitude of the scripture regarding The Lord's Prayer, I do believe that has been my attitude on occasion. What about you?

The truth is that I am not deserving of God's blessings or His provisions. He has chosen to offer those because of His love for all of us. But He is sovereign in the distribution of blessings. He can choose to bless you in a certain way, but He is under no obligation to bless me in the same way. In fact God knows that I am better off if He tells me "No" rather than "Yes" about some things. He also knows that I am not ready to properly receive or use the blessing that I may have requested.

Teaching children to say "Please" when asking for something is part of the process of developing good manners and being polite. While we might all consider the use of the word "please" with God, there are a few basics that are absolutes and not just considerations:

• God does not owe any of us anything.

• God is the giver of every good and perfect gift.

• We are deserving of nothing.

• Every blessing we receive from God is specific to who we are and to what we need.

• We are to approach God always remembering that we are the created; He is the Creator!

• Always remember that He gave His greatest gift, His Only Begotten Son - Jesus - because of His love for all of us and gave us His promise that all who believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Please is a great word to use, but so is Thank You. Maybe our prayer today should begin with Thank You for all the blessings even when we didn't say Please. I think that I will listen to children more - they catch some things that we adults just overlook. My granddaughter made me think!