My two youngest daughters are ages seven and nine. They love to play, with anything itsy-bitsy. Squeakies, pocket tablets, miniature pens, pumpkins…anything small-scale! Last weekend, I bought a little mailbox for them; the flag actually goes up and down just like a real mailbox.
Immediately, the girls began to use it to write each other letters, raising the flag when the next note was ready. Every note was a communication of their love toward one another. One of my favorites was from Aleya (age 9), to Brooke (age 7), saying, “Dear Brooke, I love you. You are fire burning on the dance floor.” Obviously, this was written in their own love language toward one another.
In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says, “And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
I believe prayer is as simple as that little mailbox. It can be fun, and in our own love language. In John 10:27 Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
We all have different ways of communication, and with those ways, we grow our relationships with one another. Perhaps there’s a misconception that we need to pray in a way that is hard or exhausting.
There are many passages where Jesus goes away to pray. One of the passages, Luke 5:16, reads “But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” (See also Mark 1:35, Mark 6:45-46, Luke 4:42, and Luke 6:12.)
I know that as a mother, I find time to slip away. Sometimes, I slip away to browse purses online, or shoes. Other times, I will use that time to spend with God, and those are truly the only times that fulfill and refuel me.
What’s great about it is that I talk to him in my own way, and he speaks to me in the way I hear him. We are each unique, and God is a good Father. He will show up where we invite him. If it’s with a cup of coffee, He’s there. If it’s in the word, He’s there. If it is laying down in silence telling him that you’re here and listening, He’s there. If God’s word is living and active, just like Hebrews 4:12 tells us, and there’s no “formula” to prayer, or spending time with God, couldn’t it be through a little red mailbox?
- Jennifer G.
