“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough,” Meister Eckhart. Been thinking about prayer today as I’ve prayed for those beautiful children who lost their lives in the flood. The not knowing…I can’t even imagine. I’ve sat on the porch today and twice watched the dark purple thunderstorm clouds gather and empty a heavy rain only to have the sun burst through shortly as the clouds hurried away. The earth here was parched and quickly soaked up the silver raindrops.

As I thought of the torrential rain in Texas, a little childhood prayer ran through my mind as I sat in the swing. “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. Please angels watch me through the night, and keep me safe till morning light.” Modern versions have changed the words “die before I wake to “keep me safely through the night and wake me with the morning light.” This was my prayer every night when I was a child. The prayer expresses our desire for God’s protection while we sleep and our willingness to accept death. This sweet prayer was considered a nursery rhyme in the 18th century. I’m sure generations of children have recited this prayer at bedtime and generations will continue to recite it.

This short prayer might be a children’s prayer but it’s a powerful message about the peace that comes when we genuinely trust in the Lord to keep us safe. We communicate with God through prayer. Just a simple thank you for the day is sufficient. Praying is just having a conversation with God. There is no right or wrong way to pray. The Lord can listen to our prayers any time of the day or night. Praying at night can comfort us and give us peace as we lay down our heads and shut our eyes for sleep. Praying in the morning or reading a short devotional can be a peaceful way to start to our day. Prayer comforts us and helps us stay closer to God.

Matthew 7:7-8 states, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” God encourages his believers to ask and knock on his door through prayer. He promises the door will be opened for those who have faith and are diligent in their prayers.

Marisa Donnelley wrote a beautiful long but simple prayer. Here’s are four sentences from her prayer that make a wonderful bedtime prayer. “Help me be a blessing. Help me to see the good around me, the good in others, and the good in myself. Fill me with happy thoughts and a thankful heart. Guide me into living like you, with selflessness and love.”

Please continue to pray for the families who lost loves ones during the flash floods in Texas.

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” — World Network of Prayer