“Even though it takes less than three minutes to pray all four prayers, this practice has rooted our family in prayer and created the fertile ground for us to have fruitful conversations about faith.”
Modeling Household Prayer
As a Christian formation leader and a parent, getting kids to pray at home is a goal of mine. I want children to be comfortable with the idea that they can pray at any time and I want them to feel empowered to initiate prayer for themselves or their families. I try to empower my 3-year old to pray, as Paul reminds us to do in his first letter to the Thessalonians, by ‘rejoicing always, to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all circumstances’ (1 Thess 5:16-18).
Family prayer, and other traditions, create a sense of rootedness, helping children and adults to navigate the ups and downs of daily life. This rootedness creates fertile ground from which we build the trellis that will support the intricate and winding process our faith journeys take us on as we continue to grow.
In our home, we have three rules for faith practices: intentionality, consistency, and simplicity. Without intentionally engaging in our faith practices we tend to leave them behind – either because the practices are forgotten or because we are not truly engaged and are simply going through the motions. Consistency makes an idea into a practice. At least in our house, to be intentional and consistent requires simplicity; I do have a toddler after all! One of the ways in which we have satisfied all three rules (and I’m a serious rule-follower) is in the practice of prayer sticks.
Materials Needed
- Multicolor popsicle sticks or craft sticks
- Permanent markers
- Mason jar or other container
How To Do It
- Choose your container. The containers used to hold these prayer sticks can range from simple flower pots and mason jars to highly decorated containers.
- Write prayer intention on your craft sticks. I wanted to expand my daughter’s understanding of prayer, so I started with four types of prayer: adoration, petition, intercession, and thanksgiving. Using craft sticks in a variety of colors, I wrote the type of prayer on the corresponding color.
- Red = Adoration (praising God)
- Blue = Petition (asking God for our own needs)
- Green = Intercession (asking God for the needs of others)
- Purple = Thanksgiving (thanking God for our blessings)
- Place your prayer sticks inside the container and set it on the kitchen table or other common space in the home.
Using Prayer Sticks at Meals
Our prayer sticks sit in a mason jar near the table. When we set the table each evening, our three-year old places the jar on the table alongside our plates, silverware, and napkins. Setting the jar on the table creates intentionality.
Before our meal, we open the jar and each take four different colored sticks. We then say our prayers for adoration first, listening to each other as we go around the table. Petition, intercession are next and we finish with thanksgiving. Even though it takes less than three minutes to pray all four prayers, this practice has rooted our family in prayer and created the fertile ground for us to have fruitful conversations about faith that bridge the gap of adult and child.
While spiritual practices at home should shift with each family’s unique dynamic, prayer sticks are a useful tool to have in your repertoire, as they are flexible enough to incorporate into established practices, or newly planted ones.
Are their specific prayers on each stick or only the four types of prayer? If specific, how many of each color stick do you place in the jar? Can you give examples of what you have written on the sticks?
Hello Kathleen! Great question. The way I read the article, there are multiple sticks labeled with each type of prayer (for example, a bunch of red sticks labeled “Adoration (praising God)”). That way, each person at the table takes four sticks and prays their own prayer of adoration, petition, intercession, and thanksgiving. But there are lots of great ways to adapt this practice! The number of sticks would depend on the number of people in the household. I hope this helps!