Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Family Prayer

Amidst the pile of presents that Abby received from Mima and Granda for her birthday was a new child-sized rosary, along with mates for Michael and Mia. I was thrilled, because I'd been wanting to start family prayer for awhile now, and thought it would be good to begin with a decade of the rosary each evening. During the pre-party reorganization, I found Abby's first child-sized rosary in our closet, and had been meaning to bring it down but (like so many things that are still being put off indefinitely) never organized my mind enough to put thought into action.

But there were the three rosaries- right there- and so a couple of nights after the party we began our family prayer, just before the start of the bedtime routine.

They all love getting a chance to hold their rosaries, but it's Abby who gets the most excited of all. She enjoys the whole process, from fingering the beads to reciting the prayers. Within a couple of days, she'd latched so firmly onto it that she pointed out the omission when Tom and I nearly forgot to work it in during the chaos of room-changing. In less than a week, she's become familiar enough with the Hail Mary to say it right along with Tom and me.

It warms my heart to see them all so happy and receptive. I know that as the years go by and awareness combined with experience begins to alter their perspectives, they may come to enjoy it less. They may- as I do at times- see it as more of a chore.

And so, I hold these moments tenderly in my heart as I try to capture their childlike innocence and enthusiasm. They have plenty to spare, and I sure could use the boost myself, most days.

As luck would have it they were all so thoroughly exhausted this evening that they look far from happy in my pictures, so you'll have to just take my word on that.