Evening prayer

When our children were small, we used to sing with them before they went to bed every evening this prayer.

Gentle Jesus meek and mild,
Look upon this little child,
Pity my simplicity,
Suffer me to come to Thee.

After that they would pray for different people. We hope we have inculcated in them the importance of prayer. We begin the day with prayer and end the day with prayer.

Come to think of it, we never thought of explaining to them the word 'suffer' - an old English word for "Let" or 'Allow' "Suffer the little children to come to Me" is translated "Let the little children come to Me."

Here is another prayer that for generations parents have taught their children during bed time.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

A cheery way to send children to sleep, or do they really reflect on it? Seriously, how do we know we are going to wake up the next morning?

I wrote about death yesterday. I have just prepared the lesson for tomorrow when a group of us will meet in our home for fellowship,  sharing the word and prayer. The subject - death. We have to accept the fact that you and I are going to die one day. We have to accept our mortality. But those  who know the Lord and are in right relationship with Him, death is not something to be feared. For at death we go to meet our Maker. It's is Home for us.

So here am I writing, but I may not be here to write another chapter. No one knows the day or the hour when we will be called home. So "If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." Amen.