Talking and Listening to God
Joseph Anderson Donetti looked around the circle. He smiled. Trevor was sprawled on his stomach, chewing the end of his pencil. Hannah and Mac sat back-to-back, leaning against each other, using their knees for desks. Pastor Chuck sat against the apple tree. It was very quiet except for the chattering of a squirrel somewhere next door in G.M.’s yard.
“I found a mistake!” Mac exclaimed suddenly. “I found the word ‘dog.’ And you didn’t put ‘dog’ in the list of words. Look,” she pointed. “Right here.”
Joseph scrambled over to where Mac sat. “Ooops!” he said. “I sure didn’t see that!”
“That’s OK,” Pastor Chuck said. “Most of the time when people write stuff, they have someone else look over their work to make sure there aren’t any mistakes. It’s called editing.” He grinned at Joseph. “Just consider us your editors.”
“I found them all!” Hannah exclaimed. “All the words on the list, plus ‘dog.’ ”
Trevor groaned. “I’ve only found 10 words so far.”
“Do you think the people at church will like it?” Joseph asked anxiously.
“Sure they will!” Mac answered. “It was a good idea to make a puzzle. It’s going to be an interesting church service,” she added. “I’m sure nobody will fall asleep!”
Pastor Chuck laughed. “I’m pretty sure they won’t fall asleep—especially while a certain red-headed angel tells the story of creation.”
Mac leaped to her feet and stretched her arms dramatically. “Of course they won’t fall asleep! I am going to tell the story in a most interesting way. And my angel costume will be absolutely beautiful!” She twirled once and dropped back on the grass. “I’m even going to have wings! Just wait until you see my wings!”
“I have to hurry up and figure out what I’m going to do,” Trevor said. “I’ve been thinking and thinking about it, but I haven’t been able to come up with a good enough idea.”
“That’s OK,” Pastor Chuck said. “You still have a little time. “And I’m sure the rest of these creative geniuses will be happy to help you think of something. And,” he continued, “you need to pray about it. Which is what we are going to talk about today. Prayer.”
Pastor Chuck paused. He looked at each one of the children. “Bunches and bunches of books have been written about prayer. People find it a fascinating thing to study. What do you guys know already about prayer?”
“Well,” Hannah answered, “I know that prayer is talking to God. That’s easy to understand. But sometimes I wish God would talk back to me!”
“Yeah!” Trevor agreed. “I wish He would talk to me too!”
Pastor Chuck smiled. “I know what you mean,” he said. “But are you taking the time to listen, just in case He does want to talk to you? Do you ever just sit and listen for God?”
“I never have,” Mac admitted.
“My mom says God talks to her sometimes,” Hannah put in. “She says that sometimes she suddenly thinks about some person for no reason at all. She says that is God putting that person on her heart to pray for.”
“That’s cool!” Mac said. “I’m going to listen and see if God does that to me too.” She rolled over on her stomach. “But I’m thinking about stuff all the time! Does that mean God wants me to pray about everything I’m thinking about? I would be praying all the time! All day long!”
Pastor Chuck laughed. “Have I got a verse for you!” he exclaimed. “Look up 1 Thessalonians 5:17.”
Everybody shuffled through their Bibles, looking for 1 Thessalonians.
“It’s very close to the back of the Bible,” Pastor Chuck said helpfully.
“I found it!” Joseph exclaimed. He looked up and saw everyone watching him. “Oh, you guys! You all found it already and were just waiting for me!”
“Aren’t we so polite!” Mac said with a giggle.
“Go ahead. Read the verse,” Pastor Chuck instructed.
” ‘Never stop praying,’ ” Joseph read. He looked at Mac. “Wow! I guess God doeswant you to pray about everything!”
“I don’t think you can pray about everything!” Trevor said. “You’d never have time to do anything else!”
Pastor Chuck looked around the group. “Do you think that’s what the verse means?” he asked.
Mac spoke slowly. She was still putting her thoughts together. “Maybe it means that God is interested in everything we do. And so we sort of share everything with Him.”
Pastor Chuck’s eyes shone. “I think you’ve about got it!” he exclaimed. “People always want to share things with their best friends. And God is our very best Friend. He loves us more than anybody else. And He’s interested in everything we do and everything we feel.”
“My mother said God woke her up in the middle of the night once,” Hannah said. “She woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep, so she started praying. She prayed for each of her children, and when she started praying for my little brother, she remembered that he had lost his first tooth that day, and it was still under his pillow. She had forgotten to take it and leave him some money. He would have been really sad if she had forgotten. And she said God reminded her.”
Pastor Chuck smiled. “I like that story,” he said. “You know, one time Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. Write down this text—Luke 11:1-13. You can look it up this week and read the story.”
“I forgot to write down that other verse you gave us,” Trevor said. “What was it?”
“1 Thessalonians 5:17,” Pastor Chuck answered.
“How do you spell Thessalonians?” Trevor muttered with his pencil poised above his notebook.
“T-H-E-S-S-A-L-O-N-I-A-N-S,” Joseph spelled slowly. He grinned. “I may not know where it is, but I can spell it!”
