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Kid theology
Oct. 20th, 2010 02:54 pmWhen I was a little girl, I--like many of us--was nominally Christian, due to being part of a Christian family. My parents are not Super-Christians. They're Episcopalians, and my mom has a strong but quiet faith I respect a great deal. (My dad usually goes out somewhere for coffee when she's at church.)
In any case, they were not of the say-grace-before-meals school, and they were not of the make-sure-your-kids-say-their-prayers-before-bed school. At some point, however, I got the idea (I read a lot) that kids should say prayers before bed, so that's what I did.
I wasn't one to ask for stuff, even back then, except in dire circumstances, which were quite rare. What was left?
"God bless mommy, and daddy, and grandma, and grandpa, and other grandma, and other grandpa, and aunt so-and-so, and uncle so-and-so..."
I came from a large family, so this could go on a while, and I was certain to miss a cousin or two.
So, I came up with a good, short, all-purpose before-bed prayer:
"God bless everyone I know."
Good, right? Covers everyone. And that worked, for a while.
Except. Why should I limit myself to people I knew? Wasn't that kind of selfish? So, I came up with version 2:
"God bless everyone I know, and everyone I don't know."
Good, right? Covers everyone, this time for reals. And that, too, worked for a while.
Except. It occurred to me that maybe "people I don't know" only meant people who, while I didn't know them personally, I did know who they were--friends of friends, public figures, and so forth. What about all the people on the planet who I had no way of knowing in any way whatsoever? There were still people out there who weren't getting blessed. Fair-minded child-Hearthstone made a final amendment to the prayer:
"God bless everyone I know, and everyone I don't know, and everyone I never even heard of."
And that was satisfactory.
(I posted this to LJ the other day and totally forgot to post here, so if you've already seen this, apologies.)
In any case, they were not of the say-grace-before-meals school, and they were not of the make-sure-your-kids-say-their-prayers-before-bed school. At some point, however, I got the idea (I read a lot) that kids should say prayers before bed, so that's what I did.
I wasn't one to ask for stuff, even back then, except in dire circumstances, which were quite rare. What was left?
"God bless mommy, and daddy, and grandma, and grandpa, and other grandma, and other grandpa, and aunt so-and-so, and uncle so-and-so..."
I came from a large family, so this could go on a while, and I was certain to miss a cousin or two.
So, I came up with a good, short, all-purpose before-bed prayer:
"God bless everyone I know."
Good, right? Covers everyone. And that worked, for a while.
Except. Why should I limit myself to people I knew? Wasn't that kind of selfish? So, I came up with version 2:
"God bless everyone I know, and everyone I don't know."
Good, right? Covers everyone, this time for reals. And that, too, worked for a while.
Except. It occurred to me that maybe "people I don't know" only meant people who, while I didn't know them personally, I did know who they were--friends of friends, public figures, and so forth. What about all the people on the planet who I had no way of knowing in any way whatsoever? There were still people out there who weren't getting blessed. Fair-minded child-Hearthstone made a final amendment to the prayer:
"God bless everyone I know, and everyone I don't know, and everyone I never even heard of."
And that was satisfactory.
(I posted this to LJ the other day and totally forgot to post here, so if you've already seen this, apologies.)
