DWQA QuestionsCategory: PrayerCan you recommend a prayer of protection suitable for children?
Nicola Staff asked 6 years ago
We like the time-honored prayer you have in your document to clients, to teach their children, and already impulsed you, that they could substitute being watched by heaven through the night, rather than the angels, if that term does not resonate. So, this very prayer would be our first recommendation. And the reason is because so many have heard it already, and will respond favorably to the language and the tone, and will feel comfortable and are more likely, therefore, to put it into practice. So, to explain how this can be used with some variation, more in keeping with their particular religious practice, is perfectly acceptable, provided it is clear within the prayer that it is speaking to the highest, and most divine realm for help. That is key. It will not be effective if it is only a vague desire for safety, without invoking a divine agent, to see that is done. This is the great failing in people being disconnected from thinking about the divine realm as being an active partner, in potentially every human endeavor. This is never more critical than in the question of safety, especially, the protection from interlopers and the many things they can do to cause human suffering. While we teach about the value and power of specificity in prayer requests, there are limits for a child, to say something more complex and have an understanding, as well. Even as children, their prayer will only be effective to the extent they have a true intention behind the words. So, teaching them a complex series of things to say, for which the child has no true understanding, much as they would say something in a foreign language, phonetically, without knowing the translation, would have no meaning and would have no ability even to invoke the Divine, as there is no human intention, and therefore, no human request behind saying of the prayer. This is one case where simple is best. And that is acceptable because children have to start somewhere, and this is well understood by the divine realm, that children will be limited in what they understand and the scope of their reach. And intention will be limited as well. Children, therefore, are accorded more latitude because they are helpless in so many ways. But they too must take an active role in their betterment via divine partnership, to the extent they are old enough to do so. This, in addition, has teaching value, to acclimate them to such a process, where it will be accepted and feel like second nature.  This is how all of culture and values are handed down to the new generation. It comes naturally, bit by bit, through example for the most part. But also, with direct entreaties for those things of great importance, especially concerning the need for safety, to warn children, again and again if need be, about hazards in the environment. This is no different, and is within the capability of any child who understands simple language. It will have many, many benefits if it is implemented on a regular basis. In the absence of prayer requests, children will be entirely on their own, unless they are prayed for with the same intention for protection and safety by their loved ones. That can be a substitute, but this is, after all, an important opportunity to bestow divine wisdom to the young, and will be an opportunity lost if not embraced early. It will be easier for the child to begin to resist, and drift away, and there may be more opposition to accepting guidance from the parents, or others they meet, when they reach the stage where there is a natural desire to test limits, to challenge what they have been told, and to break away, and seek their own independence. It may be too late, at that point, to begin a serious spiritual discussion and make recommendations and expect them to be embraced.