Hi Daddy!!

Where did you learn the Lord's Prayer?  From years of standing and reciting in unison with a gathering of people?  From a Sunday school teacher?  From a good-hearted grandmother who gave you a thick children's bible full of stories?  Maybe you inadvertently learned it from the bible-as-literature class you were required to take in college?  Though I've known the words of this prayer for years, I learned it afresh this summer from a 4 year old redhead with special needs.

On a recent service project trip with our church, I found myself living with 17 other people for a week.  We had meals together, and had to share common spaces in the home we were staying at.  People of all ages were on the trip and the family of belonging to the little redhead was among them.

Their room was at the top of two flights of steps, causing them to have to descend the staircase to get to any common gathering rooms.  As it usually happened, the adults arose before little ones and would be enjoying strong cups of Dominican coffee before we would hear little feet moving on the ceiling about us.  Without exception, as those footsteps came down the stairs and turned the corner on the landing, giving them full view of the living room, the owner of those little feet would see a man sitting at the table and exclaim in a slightly surprised and fully delighted voice, "Hi, Daddy!!!"

Eager to greet this figure she has seen hundreds upon hundreds of times, she would run over and clutch his legs, hugging them until he bent down and gathered her into his arms for well-placed Daddy kisses.

This activity happened over and over again, not only every morning, but anytime she would see her dad from a distance.  Each time her surprise and delight was palpable.  She never grew tired of seeing him and greeting him.  She was always a little amazed to find him in her line of sight as she came around a corner.  Usually, she had no request for him other than to gain his smiling attention and the occasional opportunity to be lifted into his arms to see life from a new perspective.  And when she did have a request for him, it was mostly to share some sort of snack he was enjoying.

She is a child of few words, for that type of processing is a hurdle she is having to climb in her life, but she is a keen observer of life.  Her little eyes see things grown up eyes move too swiftly over.  There is a sweet simplicity about the items she gives her attention to - a bus, her well-loved stuffed animal, trying to fit new marraccas  into her pockets, and of course, her daddy.

Each time I heard the sing-song cadence of "Hi, Daddy!!" from her mouth, I had to grin and my heart was invited to awaken to a new reality.  I saw in her the picture of who I am to be and how I could approach God in the Lord's Prayer.  So much more than a formal system for asking God for stuff, it is the surprising delight of finding a Father already waiting for me and my invitation to greet Him with a "Hi, Daddy!!"

The Lord's Prayer gives me, when I too find words difficult to form, something to focus on.  Simple things - sustenance for the day, forgiveness, keeping my feet our of places they should not be - and trust in a Father who enjoys me sitting with Him.  This little redhead reminded me that to ask to be lifted into Daddy's arms gives a better perspective of the lay of the land.  So too with the first part of the prayer.  As I recite those words, it is an asking to see the world from His height and in His arms.

Here is how she taught me to pray....

Hi, Daddy!!!  You are so important                        Our Father, who art in heaven
to me and I'm so glad to find you here.                    Hallowed be Thy name

Will You lift me into Your arms so I                        Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
can see from where You are, not from                     On earth as it is in heaven
my perspective way down here.

Do You have any snacks in Your                            Give us this day our daily bread
pocket, because I am hungry.

I'm sorry when I do something wrong                      Forgive us our sins as we forgive
and please help me to forgive my                             those who sin against us.
brother when he is mean to me.

Will You pick me up when I am in                           Lead us not into temptation but
danger?  And put me in safe places?                        deliver us from evil

I love you, Daddy!                                                  For Yours is the kingdom, the
                                                                               power and the glory!

Obviously this is not a straight across translation, but for me, it is a new way to approach the praying of the Lord's Prayer.

Thank you, little redhead!!  I want to be like you and each morning want the first words out of my mouth to be, "Hi, Daddy!!"