Through the Lens of a Dad

One of my professors at seminary said that if he could teach one thing to people who are new to the faith, he would teach him to listen to God. With that said, I wonder how you do that – teach someone to listen to God? My daughter has recently started to pray or imitate my wife and I when we pray. The most common way Ayumi sees us praying is right before meals. So now, when we say, “Let’s pray,” she clasps her hands, bows her head and listens to us as we pray. We have noticed that Ayumi tells us to pray at random times too. Just out of nowhere she’ll go, “Pray?” and then she’ll clasp her hands, bow her and stays silent – for like a second or two.

As my daughter grows up, I want her to have a relationship with Jesus and for her to learn how to pray – listening, abiding, speaking to God. I want her to have the freedom to ask God for anything, the boldness to say anything to God and the habit to go to God in any situation. But how do you teach her to listen to the voice of God? How do you do that?

Thanks for reading.

Joe

A little over a week ago my wife, Christine, was baking a zucchini bread. She took my daughter, Ayumi, along with her in the process to make the bread. If Christine had not prompted me to take pictures of the moment I probably would have missed it entirely. But I’m glad she “suggested” I take some photos. It was a reminder to me not to take things as mundane as baking with your one-and-a-half-year-old for granted. Yup, my daughter plays with dolls and now she bakes. I am incredibly grateful to God for my wife and my daughter. I will be even more grateful for them in the future as they find ways to fill my belly. Below are a couple of shots from that afternoon.

Thanks for reading.

Joe