preschool theology

every year we have a four year old program the last day before thanksgiving break. this year, that also meant that carter would be in that program. due to a weird schedule this year we were very limited in the number of days we had to learn the songs, so we tried to pick up the slack in our classrooms and use the songs in whatever way we could. one of the songs we chose to do was the doxology. as a child, i grew up singing this song every sunday in church. i loved the way you heard the entire church meld together as the words were sung in prayer to God-no instruments, just voices praising our heavenly Father. so, one of the places we practiced was at chapel time by closing with the doxology. i told the children this song is a prayer to God praising Him for who He is. in my own classroom, we used it as the prayer before lunch as well. before long, the kids picked up on all the words and while not loud, it was definitely sweet to hear them sing the words together. 

well, apparently, all mommy's talk at school followed me home and carter requested to sing the doxology at bedtime instead of praying in our usual manner. we, of course, obliged and miller would follow with a separate prayer as he doesn't know the words. so, every night we pile into carter's twin size bed and try to settle everyone down as they decide who will pray first. carter usually stakes her claim and begins singing at the top of her lungs. 

"praise God from whom all blessings flow,

praise Him all creatures here below,

praise Him above He(it is supposed to be "ye" but she says "he") heaven-al-ly Host,

praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen"

and then, miller whispers "God bless mommy (as he touches me), daddy (as he touches Josh), sister (as he touches carter), (sometimes he will include the baby as he touches my stomach), and ruthie (he shouts because he knows how much it annoys his sister that he prays for her american girl doll)! amen!" 

then, we try to maneuver everyone into the proper bed with the most beloved "friends" of the day and get everyone tucked in before heading out the door. one night, carter was in a particularly feisty mood and declared, "miller, you can't pray that way!" what she meant was that miller couldn't pray for ruthie because she is carter's doll, not his. josh quickly replies, "there is no wrong way to pray carter. you are more liturgical and miller is more charismatic."