He came to consciousness slowly, shaken by his mother’s hand. He had fallen asleep on her lap again, in front of the TV.
“It’s time for bed, Zach. Go brush your teeth.” He grumbled and rose from the couch, still groggy, and staggered to the bathroom to get ready for bed. After donning his PJs, he climbed onto the top bunk of his bed (a funny bed for an only child) and wiggled under the covers to get comfortable. Awake now, he waited for Mom and Dad to come say his nightly prayers with him. This was a nightly tradition which he didn’t really understand but which he enjoyed, nonetheless. They entered the dark bedroom as silhouettes from the bright, lighted hallway and approached the bed, both of them smiling.
“Ready for prayers?” Dad asked, reaching to muss his child’s hair.
“Yes,” Zach replied, as he put his hands together and closed his eyes. Together they chanted, more of a lullaby than a prayer: “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.” Zach opened his eyes with a smile, the subtle morbidity of the prayer completely lost on his young mind. He reached for a kiss from his mom, but she stopped him.
“We have a new prayer for you tonight, Zach. That was the last time you’ll say that one. That is a prayer for kids. Tonight we’ll teach you the prayer that adults say.” Zach was wide awake now, and nervous. This prayer had been a tradition for as long as he could remember, and now it would be over. And not only that, it would be replaced by an adult prayer. This seemed momentous, and he couldn’t think of the reason why this change should happen tonight, of all nights. He was scared for reasons he could not define, but his father, sensing his trepidation, eased his mind.
“Your mom and I will say the prayer together first, slowly. Pay attention, so you can remember it. Then we’ll say it again, all three of us together,” he glanced at his wife, then began in a more somber tone, “it goes like this: ‘Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.’ ” Zach sat silent, awed by the tone of his parents’ voices and trying in vain to understand their words, let alone remember them. He had never heard his parents speak in such terms before. Good and Evil, the Kingdom, the Glory. He didn’t understand the part about debts at all, in fact had only a vague idea of what a debt might be, and it would be years before he understood the full message of the prayer; long after he had stopped saying it.
“Do you think you can remember all that?” Mom asked.
“I’ll try,” he said.
“Good. Try hard.” And together the three members of this small family repeated the prayer, the child stumbling and forgetting the words, but never losing the somber tone which he had copied from his parents. When they finished, he was still nervous, but his parents’ smiles calmed him.
“That’s called The Lord’s Prayer,” Mom said, “It comes straight from the Bible. It’s the prayer that all Christians say, and it’s the prayer that we’ll say at night from now on. You’re getting older now, and we thought it was time you learn it. What do you think?”
He blushed, “I don’t know, I guess I like it.” His father grinned and gave him a hug.
“Good. Sleep tight, buddy, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
” ‘Night Dad.”
His mother bent down and kissed him on the forehead, “Goodnight, Zach. We love you.”
“Love you too, Mom. ‘Night.”
As his parents left the room and shut the door, Zach’s mind raced with all that had just happened. He repeated the words of the new prayer over and over in his head, still uncomprehending. He wondered what it meant, that he was Growing Up. He wondered if things would be different now, and how. He grew drowsy as he thought of all the possibilities, and eventually fell into a deep sleep. He was ten years old, innocent and naive to a fault. He’s still naive, though no longer so innocent.
1 Comment
June 2, 2009 at 6:42 pm
This really happened didn’t it. Your writing touches my heart and gives me more insight into who you are. I will be reading your blog more often simply to know you better.