Speaking in Tongues

Olivia has a really amazing memory. She picked up sign language really quickly when we first began teaching it to her. She learned to count to ten by listening to me count and fold the cloth diapers we receive every week from our diaper service. And She remembers the names of birds that we see while watching Winged Migration.

So when we started saying prayers with her every day, she really picked up the words quickly. Of course, she adds her own flavor and accents to the words. Here are a few of the more popular ones:

O-GAY-MEE - "O God, guide me...

"...protect me, make of me a shining lamp and a brilliant star. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful."

-'Abdu'l-Bahá

BESSED-TIS-POT - "Blessed is the spot,...
AN-NEN-NA-HOUSE - "and the house,...

"...and the place, and the city, and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island, and the meadow, where mention of God hath been made and His praise glorified."

-Bahá'u'lláh

O-KAT-EE-CHIL-DRN - "O God! Educate these children.

"These children are the plants of Thine orchard, the flowers of Thy meadow,
the roses of Thy garden. Let Thy rain fall upon them; let the Sun of Reality shine upon them with Thy love. Let Thy breeze refresh them in order that they may be trained, grow and develop, and appear in the utmost beauty. Thou art the Giver. Thou art the Compassionate."

-'Abdu'l-Bahá

We are blessed to have a number of children's prayer books, all of which are proportioned for tiny hands. We even have a copy of my old prayer book, which has one of my favorite prayers in it. So I always get a little giddy when Olivia picks up any small book/pamphlet/tag on a toy, opens it and says:

OHMAI-LORD-OHMAI-LORD - "O my Lord! O my Lord!...

"I am a child of tender years. Nourish me from the breast of Thy mercy, train me in the bosom of Thy love, educate me in the school of Thy guidance and develop me under the shadow of Thy bounty. Deliver me from darkness, make me a brilliant light; free me from unhappiness, make me a flower of the rose garden; suffer me to become a servant of Thy threshold and confer upon me the disposition and nature of the righteous; make me a cause of bounty to the human world, and crown my head with the diadem of eternal life.

"Verily, Thou art the Powerful, the Mighty, the Seer, the Hearer."

-'Abdu'l-Bahá

Baha'i Prayers are really beautiful. If you want to read more of them, you can do so at the Baha'i International Community's online reference library.