We had a young kollel couple with a two year old daughter over for brunch one Sunday. The little girl was just starting to talk; so cute! I told her father that I hope HaShem thinks of us as so cute when we try to daven. He thought it was a great way to look at things (as, of course, did I). I have comforted myself with that thought for years now. I try my best to daven, but often think of that cute little two year old and how we are HaShem's children. Something happened a few weeks ago that made me realize that I was not comforting myself, but rather was giving myself a comfortable rationalization to justify my stunted growth in davening. What happened? I was walking home from shul with a friend's 11 year old son. He is an interesting young man, always asking penetrating questions (in all innocence). For his (recent) 11th birthday, he had asked for a "Pathway to Prayer" for both weekday and shabbos. "Pathway to Prayer" is a beautiful sefer that
This is a paraphrase of the pasuk in t'hillim 84:7 -- "mei'chayil el chayil" -- which means "from strength to strength". In this case, it is my thoughts and ideas to those who are strong enough to be interested :)