Praying like a three year old, i.e. I pray to Jesus

May 27, 2011

Recently I have been told I pray like a three year old. When I asked what this person meant they replied “Because you pray to Jesus and not to God.” My response in the moment was that Jesus is God and that it is okay. That answer was enough but now that I have some time to reflect on why I pray to Jesus instead of some other name for God.

I used to pray to God. I would start every prayer with “Father God…..” then I had children and I realized Father God might be a confusing way to pray so for my kids I started praying “Dear Jesus” with them but not in church.

Then I realized that when I say Father God in church it stirs up all sorts of comparisons between God and our earthly fathers. Is God our heavenly father? Yes. But for some this can hurt/confuse people who are new to the faith.

In my confusion I wanted to pray to only God but I realized that the word “god” in prayer can seem intangible and meaningless to those who don’t know who God is.

So, then I realized that Jesus is God. That if Jesus is always God and always existed there is no reason I can’t pray directly to my only hope for salvation.

I also realized that Jesus makes people uncomfortable. When I ask Jesus for forgiveness, strength, healing, courage, or anything else; people get weird. It makes people nervous to think that the one who conquered death is involved in their life. Sometimes that uncomfortable feeling is very helpful and very frightening.

So I pray directly to Jesus, a real living and breathing person who died for the whole world and who is alive now and up to something that involves every aspect of my life.

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