Review: Deep Breath, Little Whisper
Lots of kids have weird fears. One of mine was praying out loud in front of people. I bet I’m not alone. It seemed like all the grown ups knew how to do it. They didn’t stumble over their words. And their prayers sounded a certain way. Right. When my teacher asked for volunteers to pray, I never raised my hand. I didn’t want to do it wrong. I can’t remember if this fear affected the way I prayed silently, but how could it not?
Did you ever feel this way? Or perhaps you grew up in a liturgical tradition. Having the words given to you can be helpful, both to a child learning how to pray or an adult struggling to find the words. But memorized or read prayers are just one way to pray. We also want our children to learn to come to the Lord, even when they feel they lack the words. Our goal is for them to realize they can talk to God whenever they want without having to use fancy words.
If you just said, “Amen!” to that, let me introduce a new picture book by Scott James titled Deep Breath, Little Whisper: Praying Every Word Your Heart Wants to Say. It explores a concept called breath prayers—which James explains further in his note to parents—as an accessible way for children to learn to come to God any time, anywhere, with simple language.
Deep Breath, Little Whisper depicts two children facing a variety of situations, both good and bad, and their breath prayer responses. Their prayers are simple, like “I’m sorry,” “Thank you,” “Make me brave.” The illustrations are delightful and slightly whimsical. Yet the book isn’t about these two children. Not really. Because the text speaks directly to the child reader as “you,” inviting them to imagine how they could incorporate these simple breath prayers in similar situations.
But the prayers in this book aren’t just the words. They begin with the breath. The words “deep breath, little whisper” proceed each spoken prayer in the book—and one wordless prayer.
I hadn’t heard of breath prayers before, so I did a little research. Breath prayers have been around for hundreds of years, originating with the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The breath prayer takes the concept of simple prayer and adds focus on the breath. Incorporating the inhale and exhale into the prayer itself utilizes the body to quiet and focus the spirit. God made us both body and soul, and the two parts affect each other. This is a fantastic way to teach kids—or anyone—to lean into God’s good gift of a body and turn our focus to Him.
In his note to parents, James encourages this ancient practice as a way to “pray continually” as we are instructed to do in I Thessalonians 5:17. I couldn’t agree more! And I love the way that Deep Breath Little Whisper models this simple spiritual practice for kids.
If you have young children at home, I’d encourage you to try this practice. Model it with them. And read Deep Breath, Little Whisper to help them envision how easy it is to stop and talk to God, any time, anywhere.
When she’s not writing, Carolyn can be found homeschooling her four wildly-creative kids in her house full of bookworms, which also happens to be the name of her blog.
You can find her at http://www.housefullofbookworms.com, and on Instagram.
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Great review! Can’t wait to read the book! I learned this practice a few years ago but a little differently: on the inhale, I say a name for Jesus (e.g. “you are my shepherd”), and on the exhale how Jesus personifies that name (“you guide me & protect me.”) It’s been really helpful to me over the years!