Pray-er with Mama Bear Prayer

Of course, the following is a topic that relates to all caregivers of kids while becoming a Pray-er, ourselves. However, the following is literally about a Mother Bear with cubs, so it seemed appropriate to include a reference to "Mama Bear" in the title.

My kids and I enjoy a good National Geographic episode, and this one, particularly, stands out. A mother bear and two cubs were working on gaining weight before a winter hibernation, primarily by fishing in a river. Well, she was fishing and handing over the catch, for the most part, to the cubs. Her job, and anxiety as the narrator pointed out, was the instinctual need to get weight on herself and her cubs prior to winter's arrival. He began to expand excessively on the importance of eating and gaining weight as her primary anxiety; to succeed, she needed to move constantly to find more fishing spots...when something unexpected happens.

One of her cubs loses focus on the task of eating (I can just hear "Mama, I am so full!"), and wanders off.

When she notices that she's down to one cub, instead of two, she begins to growl mournfully and yell for her cub while pacing in very large circles around her chosen fishing spot. The anxiety was palpable and intense. The narrator proceeded to tell us she behaved this way for about an hour with the pacing, yelling, and general anxiety; then, she went back to fishing. He related something along the lines of "she knows she needs to keep eating and feeding her cub, but, now, she will wait to leave," which, he pointed out, would limit her fishing options to only one.

She stayed overnight and in the morning, about 18 hours later as the narrator pointed out, her wayward cub finally comes back, dehydrated and tired. The gait of this poor baby was stumbling and the mother, while acknowledging the arrival back, definitely did not give a very warm welcome. She literally let the cub get a drink, sniffed its head, and, then, began to walk away without observing either cub's decision on following her.

I was pretty astounded there was less affection on the return, even for a bear. She was quite distraught in the footage when she realized the cub was gone originally, but this return was as if nothing bad had happened.

The narrator continued relating Mama Bear knows the best way to help the cubs is to keep moving to the next fishing spot and continue in getting them fed and fed and fed. She also knows, the cub has a choice to follow or not. The cub has a choice to follow or not.

What does the still, small voice say about this Pray-er with Kids?

She knows she can't afford to spend time and energy making the cub(s) follow if wandering occurs. She continued following the instinct to eat that is deeply hidden, mysterious and very quiet inside of her being.

Those words are profound in consideration of prayer. Kids have a free will that even God respects and does not impose upon, so their choice to follow (or not) is what is necessary. Certainly, there are times to explain what is happening in prayer or services, but I wonder how often I tend to over explain and over control moments of prayer, rather than simply praying myself. Now, even this Mama Bear "waited on her cub," and waiting in the prayer for the wandering attention to come back is the easiest method to deal with wandering minds.

Maybe, it's really okay to notice a kid's attention wandered off from the Presence of God, and quietly make our way to His Presence as the best example of prayer rather than "explain." Maybe a quiet ignoring of my jumpy kid's attention, so I can focus on the still small voice inside, is the best way to model managing that jumpy attention within oneself...