How Soon is Too Soon?- Focus On Your Child (Focus on the Family)

I was touched, almost stunned.

We sat on a Metra train—Dad, my wife, Angela, and I—ready to travel from our house in the northwest suburbs down to Chicago for the day. It was a few months before Angela got pregnant, but we had been quietly thinking of starting a family.

Dad began talking to Angela. I was reading a book, but caught snippets of their conversation. “. . . So you were exactly the girl I prayed Daniel would marry . . .”

I put down my book and looked over at Dad. I never heard him say this before. I knew He loved and admired Angela, but this was new.

Dad began to share his personal prayer journey. He began to make requests to the Lord—for me—before I was even born.

In the past, I’d heard parents talk about praying for their kids like this, but each time I thought, What good does it do when little Susie or Johnnie is swimming in amniotic fluid?

I understood the usual prayer that accompanies childbirth: the health of mother and baby. Anything beyond that seemed over-the-top.

But since that day on the train, Dad’s words have lingered in my heart. They made me realize that the life I now live is largely a result of his quiet faith.

Passing the Torch
Grace is only one year old and yet I’ve begun to see the wisdom of Dad’s prayer principle. So often I find myself getting caught in the tangle of the everyday that I lose perspective.

Prayer settles me down and helps bring me back to my purpose as a parent. I’m passing the torch of faith to my daughter.

A good friend once shared an enduring image from her childhood. It is the sight of her father on his knees in prayer early every morning. She says that whenever her own walk with God begins to wane, she draws on this image for encouragement.

I have a similar image of my father—but now I know that many of his earnest prayer sessions were not for his own welfare, but heartfelt entreaties sent to the Heavenly Father just for me. Can a son ask for anything more?

And so I want Grace to have the same story and continue the generational journey with God. That’s why I pray for her—early and often.