It struck me that the most important thing that I want my nephews to know at bed time is that Jesus is with them, whatever sort of the day they may have had. Then I wanted them to recognise that all good things come from God and that it is important at the end of the day to say thank you for all that has gone well. Just as it is part of learning good manners to say thank you generally, it is very important as we learn to pray to thank God as creator of all, in whom we live and move and have our being, from whom everything comes and to whom everything returns (not that I was planning on putting it like that in their prayer)!

And at the end of any day there is the need to be reconciled, to be at peace, to let go of things that have gone wrong, to place them in God's hands and look to the next day as a new beginning. We know that God offers us forgiveness through Jesus and it is important for us to ask for that forgiveness just as we often need to ask for forgiveness in family life.

Prayer at night also needs to be a prayer of trust. As we go to sleep it is a time we can sanctify by placing sleep into God's hands as an act of trust. It is also a time to remember those who are special to us in prayer so that the last thoughts that we have about them are in God's presence asking Him to look after them. In other words, night prayer is a very important part of the day when we need to remember to thank God; to seek His forgiveness; to put our trust in Him; and place our loved ones into His hands as we go to sleep. It is a beautiful prayer of trust and God's love. I am sure you can find your own way of expressing your thanks, need for forgiveness, and trust but if you have any children who need a night prayer you are welcome to share the one that I wrote for Ben, Jack and Deon:

Amen.