A story on the theme of Psalm 150

Theme: "No matter how much we suffer, no matter our doubts--everything finds its way into praise--the final consummating prayer." In other words, prayer pursued far enough becomes praise.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Selena was making a list. Her Sunday School teacher asked her to make a list or a timeline. She knew about time lines from school. It was a way to keep track of important events over time, in your life or in a countries life. You drew a long line on a blank piece of paper and along that line, you wrote down or made pictures of important events in the order that they had happened. She liked history at school and so had made a number of timelines.

But this time she decided that before she tried a timeline, she’d make a list. Her Sunday School teacher had asked Selena and the other kids in her class to think back over the past year of each of their lives and make a list of all the things that they had prayed to God about. Oh, it didn’t have to include when they said grace before a meal. And it didn’t have to include all the times they might have said the Lord’s Prayer. It was to include anything that they thought was important that they talked about with God.

She usually talked to Jesus when she prayed, so she decided she’d make a list of as many things she could think of that had been in her prayers to Jesus.  There were lots of good things -- a new friend who moved in next door; a really nice teacher at school, even though that teacher made them work really hard; a wonderful, surprise birthday party that her friends had for her; a new dress for Easter; a funny Halloween costume that her mom helped her make. There were lots of other wonderful things that she had thanked Jesus for.

But as she made her list, there were also some really hard things that she had prayed about -- that boy at school who had made fun of her; her not getting picked to be in the school play; the time her new bike had gotten stolen; the time when a group of other girls wouldn’t let her sit with them at lunch; lots of hard things. She had ask Jesus to make them better. Sometimes he did and sometimes he didn’t seem to. The hardest was losing her grandpa. He was pretty old and had been sick for a long time and she had asked Jesus to make him well, but he didn’t. It had been very hard to go to church when they had Grandpa’s funeral, but her grandpa had told her that he knew he wouldn’t get better and he was okay with that. He was looking forward to seeing God in heaven. He was really going to miss Selena, but he knew that she would still have a wonderful life and she should remember how much he loved her.

After writing all those hard things at the end of her list, she thought that she would be very, very sad; maybe even mad at God. But she realized that she wasn’t. She was still pretty sad about the sad things and even a little disappointed that they hadn’t come out better, but she began to remember how God had seemed real close during the hard times and had brought some special friends to help her through her sadness. And she only had to look at the things at the top of her list, so many good things, to realize how much God had given her.

She picked up her pencil one more time and with a very full heart, wrote in big, capital letters -- THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR BEING SO GOOD TO ME! AMEN.