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The Perfect Prayer

In this excerpt from Guideposts Daily Planner 2014, Van Varner shares the story of a child's perfect prayer.

little girl praying
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You must love the Most High God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. Luke 10:27 (TIB)

Many years ago, my prayers to God tended to resemble letters to Santa Claus–long lists of things I wanted God to do for me.

Nowadays, however, I seldom close my eyes to pray that a simple little anecdote doesn’t flash across my mind. It was one that actor Robert Young told.

He was listening to the bedtime prayers of one of his four daughters and she, like me, was going through her list of wants and “gimmees.” But then she stopped, raised her head, opened her eyes to heaven and said, “And now, dear God, is there anything I can do for You?”

Ah, there it is again: the unvarnished faith of little children. And did I call that a “simple little anecdote?” It’s not.

That one tender question goes straight to the mark of what God expects of us children, big and little: to be mindful of God. After all, that was God’s first–and greatest–commandment.

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