When my family gathers around the table at dinner time, we bow our heads and say a prayer to bless the food we are about to enjoy. As small children, we said a prayer that I am sure most of you know: “God IS great. God IS good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.”
The honor of saying the dinner prayer in our home is often left to the “kids.” I use the term “kids” loosely as a now 41-year-old adult who shared the honor of saying the prayer with my sister until about a year ago when we passed it on to my niece, Coble. Coble, who is now three years old, has mastered the time-honored prayer, but she says it with a bit of a twist: “God YOU great. God YOU good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.”
When she first said the prayer, I was excited that such a little one was already giving her praise and thanks to God. I was also incredibly touched by how, in her infinite 3-year-old wisdom, innocence, and faith, she changed the prayer. Coble does not just speak about God as an inanimate being and tell Him He IS great and good. She talks to Him and says, “YOU are great. YOU are good.” By changing just one word, she transforms that prayer into a personal conversation with God. He becomes real to her and is not just an inanimate “thing” that “is.”
So often in prayer, people find themselves talking around or about God instead of talking directly to Him. When we pray directly to Him in conversation, our prayers change. I find that I open my mind, heart, and soul in those prayers as I seek Him and listen for Him. God, YOU are attainable. God, YOU are present. YOU are my God.