[You may draw beforehand, on the blackboard, pictures of hands in the positions described, or they may be cut from illustrated papers and pinned on. In either case cover them, and disclose them one by one.]
How do we hold our hands, children, when we pray? All of us alike, probably, folded together, and sometimes held up toward heaven. But though our hands seem all alike as we take this position, yet I often think that God sees them in a very different way.
I have heard prayers that seem to be aimed at the people who are listening, and not raised to God at all. I think God saw those prayers as if the fingers of each hand of the man who was praying were pointed straight at some brother or sister, as if to shame him.
There are other prayers that are nothing but begging prayers. They do not praise God for anything, and they have nothing of adoration in them. They are one long petition. In such a case, I think God sees the hands, that seem to us to be folded, as if they were not folded at all, but grasping out as if to seize as much as they can get hold of.
Some prayers I have heard seem to have nothing to do with the life, but are cold and meaningless. The person is asking for things he does not really want, and is going through the form of thanksgiving without really feeling grateful. I almost fancy, when I hear such prayers, that the folded hands are cut off from the body and floating off in the air, with no more connection with the real body than the prayer has with the real life.
Other prayers are self-conscious, and the man who prays seems rather to be praising himself than praising God. It is as if his folded hands were not folded at all, but reached up as if to pat himself on the head.
Other prayers are timid, the one who prays not having faith that God is eager to give him all the good things he can possibly ask for, and more too; and these folded hands seem to me to be reached up toward heaven, and then half drawn down again, as if in doubt and insincerity.
It makes no difference, boys and girls, how you fold your hands when you pray, or, for that matter, whether you fold them at all; but, when you pray, be sure you do not make the mistakes that I have been talking about. Be sure you do not pray at others, as if you pointed your fingers at them. Be sure you do not pray prayers that do nothing but beg. Be sure your prayers have some connection with your real life, that they do not praise yourself, and that they are not boasting prayers; but pray trustfully and eagerly, and modestly and unselfishly. All such prayers are sure to be answered.