Like most people, I have a toilet...and a shower...and a
bathroom sink...and a bathroom floor. It
is a necessity, being an adult, to clean this bathroom several times a
month. And it is drudgery...there are a
million and one things I would rather do than clean the toilet, scrape down the
tub, wash the floor and walls, and pour Draino down the sink. It is not that the task is difficult, or that
the bathroom becomes so messy in a week that it's gross to clean- it's simply
that I don't want to do it. However, having
a task that must be accomplished, I roll up my sleeves, whip out the sponge and
cleaning solution, spray down the bathroom, take a big gulp of air from outside
the door, and wade in to do the dirty work of getting the place clean.
A funny thing occurs while I scrape down the walls and
toilet, wash the floor, and make the place clean. Focusing on such a simple task, clears my
mind of the day's work, entertainment, and play. This frees up room to think, focuses the mind
on reality, and brings my attention to God.
Paying attention to God brings to mind prayer, which leads
for a perfect time for saying small prayers.
Menial tasks open room for us to think and to pray, to take time for our
relationship with God in a powerful way that entertainment, work, and play can
deprive us of. In God's grace and mercy,
chores can provide room for the love of God to saturate our daily
existence.
I find that praying while doing these daily tasks, praying
in open periods of work, reminding myself that God is whom I am following,
brings grace into my life and heart in ways that keeping myself entertained
never does. Chores provide me with an
opportunity to pray that I might not have taken if left to my own devices; it
is these prayers, everyday, that will lead me to walk with Christ in each
moment of life.
"Lord, help me to pray each day as I walk your way."
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