A Child's Evening Prayer

A Child's Evening Prayer By Samuel Coleridge

Ere on my bed my limbs I lay,
God grant me grace my prayers to say:
O God! preserve my mother dear
In strength and health for many a year;
And, O! preserve my father too,
And may I pay him reverence due;
And may I my best thoughts employ
To be my parents' hope and joy;
And, O! preserve my brothers both
From evil doings and from sloth,
And may we always love each other,
Our friends, our father, and our mother,
And still, O Lord, to me impart
An innocent and grateful heart,
That after my last steep I may
Awake to thy eternal day! Amen


* This poem written by Coleridge is a good example of what type of prayer demonstrated what being a Christian really meant. Back in the time that this was written when a child or anyone prays, they would pray for things that really matter in a person’s life. Things like family, good health, peace, and all of the overall important things in life. Now a days, you hear people praying for things that are not important, such as money, good cars, expensive things for a birthday or Christmas, praying that your parents will let you do something that you want to do, or even praying to not get into trouble for something that you did. In the years that this poem was written it was believed and practiced that nothing else was more important than family, protection from sins/devil, and good health to all and all the good things in life. Most importantly, not praying for own selfish reasons. In the end, family and good health is what really matters. If you ever became sick with cancer or something having an expensive car or not getting in trouble for that thing you did last week really doesn’t matter. At that point the only thing that you do care about is getting better and being able to live your life to the fullest. And in your time of need, that money or new video game that you prayed for is not going to be there by your side supporting you. Your family is who is going to be there for you. And as much as you say that you can’t stand your parents or you sibling or whoever, you know that you would be sad if they died and you would probably wish that things were different between the two of you. Yes, it’s true that having things like money, nice cars or whatever is nice but it’s not everything. And it most certainly isn’t what is most important in life. I think that most people who read this poem just overlook it and don’t really take the time to think about how different things are in this time. And I believe that in order to really understand what I’m saying, you would have had to experience something that really makes you think about what is important.