This beautiful story comes from a farming community in Scotland. A little boy had to look after his father’s sheep on Sundays while most of that community would go to church. His parents were not believers but wanted to rest on Sundays, so he had to look after the sheep.
One Sunday while listening to the church bells ringing and watching all the people walking to church, he thought to himself, “I would also like to pray to God, but what can I say to God? Nobody has taught me any prayers.”
So he knelt behind some bushes and began to recite the alphabet. He repeated this several times. A man passing close by heard this and peeked through the bushes. He interrupted the boy and asked, “What are you doing, little boy?” The boy answered, “Oh sir, I was just praying!”
“I don’t understand?” the man said. “Why were you praying the alphabet?” The boy replied, “Sir, you see, I don’t know any prayers, but I want God to take care of me and help me protect the sheep. So I thought if I recited the whole alphabet, God would put all the letters together into words, because He knows what I want.”
The man smiled and said, “Bless your heart, young boy. God will answer your prayer!” Then the man left and went on his way to church knowing full well that he had heard the finest sermon he could possibly have heard that day.
Maybe if we think like little children and allow God to put together the letters of what we should want and what we should pray, things would probably work out a lot better than we planned.
A prayer like this reminds me that God is not yet discouraged with man! Simplicity and purity of heart are very precious in God’s sight.
