My Niece's Grace

Before dinner on Easter, my niece reached from her high chair to her mother and father, sitting on either side of her, and grabbed on to their fingers. She looked around the table waiting for my parents, aunt, and me to join hands, too. She expected us to say Grace.

"Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let this food to us be blessed. Amen."

Emma clapped when we finished.

Twenty minutes into the meal, Emma reached for her parents' hands again. They looked surprised. "But Emma," my sister said, "we already said Grace."

Emma shrieked in response so we joined hands to say Grace again.

"Good thing it's not a long Grace," my father said.

"She's just a grateful little girl," I said.

Later, my sister refilled my niece's plate with some more mashed potatoes and Emma reached out to pray.

My mom laughed. "You like making all these adults do what you want, don't you, Emma?"

"Maybe she just knows Thessalonians," I said. "Pray without ceasing."

We said Grace a third and final time.