Mutual Prayer

I would imagine that if people were looking for words to describe my father, they would include something like “great sense of humor” or “good father and family man.”

I doubt that most of them would use the words “religious” or “spiritual” to describe him. And so when I became his caregiver, this side of him was new even to me.

One morning, I heard something coming from my dad’s bedroom and had to check it out.

Usually this early, Dad was still sleeping. I popped my head into his bedroom. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I wake you?”

“No problem. I was already awake and thought I heard something.”

“That was me,” he said. “I was saying my prayers.”

“Your prayers?”

“Yes,” Dad said. “I like to say a few prayers every day for everyone in our family. Just now, I was praying for you.”

And here I’d thought that it was only me praying for him! My dad’s admission of this practice of his faith was surprising to me. It was very comforting for me to know that despite the many challenges he faced now in his life, he still prayed for all of us.