piper’s prayer

I know we’re 10 days past Christmas, but I’ll share this anyway.

Piper, as most of you know, is my 5-year-old niece, glittering star of this post, among others. We saw her on Christmas Eve for our family get together. At one point, we always sit on the floor, in a large circle, while one of us reads Luke Chapter 2. Then we pray.

As the reading started this year, Piper moved from her spot across the room and plopped herself in my lap. With her, as always, were Baby and Pinky and Spots, her beloved, worn, and somewhat begrimed stuffed companions. She held them around their necks, all together, in a sad, smushed headlock. It was suddenly quite crowded on my lap. Not a problem, because Baby and Pinky and Spots are not heavy and generally not talkers.

But Piper IS a talker. And as the scripture was read, this was what she wanted to know:

“Tee Tee, is it time to pray now?”

“Not now, sweetie.”

(a 1-second pause)

“Okay. Tee Tee, are we praying now?”

“Not yet, hon, not yet.”

(an even shorter pause)

“Tee Tee, is it time to pray NOW?”

“No, Pipey. Right now is time to be quiet.”

She was so excited to pray. So when we all joined hands and started to pray, this was her offering, blurted out with childlike gusto:

“Dear Jesus, MERRY CWISTMAS!! Please, please heal all da sick children of da woirld, Jesus ….. and …. and …. just have a good day, Jesus!”

Ah, little Pipey.

Ditto that.

10 Replies to “piper’s prayer”

  1. (((((PRECIOUS)))))

    Funny, though. Sounds like one of *my* prayers. Tef picks on me about this all the time. He’ll do a high-pitched imitation of my voice, pretend to bow his head and squeak out, “And thank you, Jesus, for butterflies, and rainbows and all my favorite dollies…”

    Yuh. I also squeal and clap quite a bit when I’m excited about stuff. You know, like a particularly pretty sunrise or a new Gennady Spirin book.

    Not proud.

  2. Heheheh, WG, Tef’s picking on you sounds like my oldest daughter (6). I pick on my children ruthlessly.

    I was implying that my youngest daughter (4) was an airhead (she’s quite bright, really). I kind of had to spell it out for them and then my oldest daughter goes, “If she had an empty we filled it with love!”

    My wife and I belly laughed for a full 10 minutes. We would stop and make comments like, “And then we painted our hearts with rainbows and rescued puppies.”

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