'Bonjour mes enfants,' exclaimed the French teacher as she gracefully swept into the classroom. In response, Puff joined the rest of her classmates in greeting her. Puff really like the idea of learning French but of course this was to be only her second lesson. Last lesson they had learned some really important words, such as hello, goodbye, how are you?

'Now today,' said the teacher, 'we are going to learn how to say thank you - merci; please - s'il vous plait; and sorry - pardonnez-moi.'

So they practised putting the words into use. Well, Puff took to it like a duck to water. She burst into the kitchen after school and just could not wait to display her knowledge to Mama and Papa. Padders had already had an earful of the way home and now the rest of the household was about to get it too.

'Mama, may I have my rice now, S'il vous plait?'

As Mama lay her steaming hot rice pudding with sultanas in front of her, she responded, 'merci', with a nod of appreciation and a note of arrogance.

Papa thought she was trying to be cheeky. He did not know any French and he reprimanded her by saying, 'Eat up and stop talking silly.'

'Pardonnez- moi!' said Puff proudly.

Papa's blood pressure was rising, and Padders read the situation well so he interrupted saying, 'Look, Mama, Papa, Puff is being polite in French. She is saying please and thank you and sorry.'

'Ah' said Papa, reflecting for a moment. 'Three very good words. Puff, I hope you use those words when you are talking to God. God wants us to say thank you to Him for all His blessings and the good things that happen to us and He wants us to say sorry or pardon me for all the wrong things we have done and He wants us to say please and ask Him for whatever we need.'

'Oh yes,' added Puff, 'I say please every night in my prayers.'

'But Puff,' said old Papa, ' I want you to say all three words to God, not just please. Also say thank you and pardon me.

Well the whole family were contemplating the subject of prayer when the telephone rang and interrupted their thoughts. It was for Papa but nothing interesting, and in a few minutes he returned again and continued the discussion. This time he had the telephone in his hand.

'This is a useful instrument,' he said holding the phone up for all to see.

'Papa, I have been using the phone all of my life. Why are you suddenly saying it is useful, as if it was just invented.'

Padders chuckled!

'I mean it is useful for teaching us about prayer. Talking to God in prayer is like talking on the phone, only a lot better.'

'How come?' asked the curious Padders.

'Well when you want to talk to God in prayer, the line is never busy. Sometimes when you use the telephone to ring your friends, you hear the busy signal.'

Puff imitated it. 'Beep, beep, beep, beep.'

'That's it. So you have to put the receiver back on its hook and try again later,' continued Papa. 'But you never get the busy tone when you talk to God. In fact He is always waiting and ready to hear you pray and we can get through to Him any time we choose.'

'God doesn't have an answering machine , Papa, with one of those recorded messages?' asked padders.

'No, definitely not,' said Papa, hating the very things. 'As I said He is always there for you when you pray.'

'So that's why talking to God in prayer is better than using a telephone,' said Mama, realising the benefits.

'Oh, but that's just one reason why it's better,' said Papa. 'There are more.'

'Oh?' remarked Padders.

'Well, tell me if you have ever dialled the wrong number?' asked Papa.

'Never?'

'Well maybe on the odd occasion,' she admitted when forced.

'Exactly, and you know that people ring us here looking for someone else. They simply pressed the wrong number when they dialled.'

'But', added Papa, 'This does not happen when you talk to God in prayer because you don't have to bother with dialling numbers. All you have to do is talk. It's so simple and straightforward.'

'What are the other reasons, Papa?' inquired the inquisitive Padders.

'Well, another reason is this; when you have a telephone, every so often a big brown envelope comes through the letter box.'

'That's the bill,' declared Puff.

'Yes, it is the telephone bill. If you have talked longer than you ought, then I have to pay lots of money.'

Puff felt a warmth in her cheeks as she blushed recalling the intimate chats she had with her pals.

Papa continued, 'There are no brown envelopes through the post with God's telephone system. It is free! We can talk to God as long as we like and we don't have to pay a penny!'

'And another reason,' said Puff, having given the matter some thought. 'Sometimes when we talk to people on the phone they hang up on us because we have said something to offend or something they didn't want to hear. But God doesn't do that, sure He doesn't Papa?'

Papa was quick to remind Puff that she shouldn't offend people, but she was right in what she had said. God never hangs up on us.

'And another reason,' remarked Mama this time. ' If you own a telephone, you get a telephone book and it will have your name in it.'

While she spoke Puff checked it out and sure enough their family name was in it. Mama continued, 'God has our names in a much bigger and better book than the telephone directory. There's a book in heaven called the Book of Life and in it are the names of everyone who loves God and prays to Him.'

Padders came up with a further reason why God's telephone system was better. He said, 'You also get another book when you have a phone - the Yellow Pages. It is useful when you need to solve a problem. Remember when our pipe burst and we needed a plumber? Papa got one out of the Yellow Pages. And when the video broke down we got a repair man out of the Yellow Pages. But isn't it true Papa, that when we have a problem, the best thing to do is tell it to God in prayer? He is so big that no problem is too difficult.'

'That's right,' affirmed Papa. 'He tells us not to be anxious or worried about anything at all, but to bring it to Him in prayer. So change your matters of care into matters of prayer.' added Papa, bringing their discussion to a close.