Thank You, Sorry, Please

The most common type of prayer we do as a family is called Thank you, Sorry, Please.  You start by sharing your feelings of gratitude and thanks, follow them with sorrow over any wrongdoing, and end with any requests.  Thank you, Sorry, Please.  Simple, but powerful.

But not always, as in this especially charming prayer from Ezra this morning:

God, thank you for this day.  Like all the others.  Because that’s what people usually pray for.  And I’m sorry for making Mommy mad, and her losing her temper.  Which she does a lot.  And please help Mommy not to lose her temper so much anymore.

Ahhh.  That’s what I like: a prayer used to critique and correct those within earshot.

Zach had his own message that he wanted to convey during the Sorry portion of his prayer, related to a scuffle he’d had with Ezra earlier in the day and which resulted in a lecture from me:

God, I’m sorry for pushing Ezra out of the way.  If I even did that. Which I don’t think I did.

(I just sat here for five minutes trying to think of some way to end this post.  Couldn’t do it.  Too distracted by thoughts of my temper and the miscarriage of justice perpetrated on Zach this morning. Back tomorrow with another post – one with an ending I hope.  In the meantime, feel free to write the ending to this post in the comments.)