Prayer Time

The kids have been put to bed, we finished watching Batman Begins and it's time for bed.

Every day (or almost every day) we have prayer as a family and as a couple.

This time, after our usual argument over who's turn it is to say the prayer, it turns out to be mine and I wonder what we should pray for. I try not to do the same standard prayer, it gets old, down here and up there I'm sure, so I have a silent pre-prayer, looking for something to pray about.

And I wait.

And wait.

Nothing.

Great... thanks. Sometimes it's not this hard, so I think about it. What's happened in the past week?

Well, we got a package from Helen's brother, Louis. A care package for Morgan. Included was a scented candle called, "Morgan", a bracelet, a card and a pack of animal crackers.

Awww...

Louis! We'll pray for Louis!

Cool, then lets get started.... well... wait. Helen has two brothers serving in the Marine Corps in Iraq. We can pray for them too! Sweet, I'm on a roll! So basically, we're praying for Helen's siblings, her brothers specifically.

Hmm... but we're leaving out her sister. I guess we can throw her in there too. Wouldn't hurt right? But that's not really fair, I don't want her to be the prayer tag-along.

Hey! She's pregnant! We can pray for her about that!

Nothing else pops into my head so, it's show time!!

We clasp hands, bow our heads, ready to begin the prayer when it strikes.

The giggles.

For some reason, the whole thought process of my pre-prayer is hitting me as hilarious.

Get control, this is a reverent moment.

K, I'm good. I'm ready.

Wrong! Giggles return.

I can't stop. Helen doesn't see the humor in it, which only makes me laugh harder. It ain't gonna happen. She has to take this one. Giggles 2 - Mike 0.

Helen says the prayer without any trace of the giggles, covering everyone we talked about.

Ahh... now I can drift quitely to sleep. As soon as the giggle wear off.