A praying godparent

We have 6 godchildren, and we are often thinking about how to remain involved in their lives, especially for the four that live interstate. When I think about what we promised their parents, a key part of being godparents was an ongoing commitment to pray for them, and wherever able - to be involved in their lives.

We definitely have prayed for all our godchildren since we became their godparents, and will continue to do, but as each child has gotten older, we want to let them to know that we pray for them.

A few of them are at school now, and can read and write, and so we have entered a new stage, actually asking them for prayer points. At the beginning of the year we sent a letter asking about them and what they would like prayer for - they filled it in and posted it back to us. Our Mr 8's godparents did the same with him this year and he was delighted to be able to fill in the sheet they sent him too.

Perhaps you also have godchildren, nieces and nephews, or grandchildren far away. It could be adapted to suit any child and situation, here are some things you could ask:

• What year are in at school?
• What is your teacher's name?
• Who are some of your friends?
• What do you like doing at school?
• What do you find a bit harder at school?
• What do you like doing at home?
• What do you want to thank God for?
• What would you like us to pray for?
• What are some things Mum & Dad would like us to pray for? (this could be the section where the parents tell us some more specific things)

We also included a little letter telling them we pray for them, that we love hearing from them, and some simple prayer points they could pray for us.

We are only just starting this, and I suspect it will change and adapt as the years go on. Perhaps I'll try write notes a few times a year as well. But for now, I feel a little bit better informed and more able to pray specifically for some of the children whose lives we are especially a part of.

If you want some more ideas about godparents and godchildren, I referred last year to this series by Meredith.