My Toothbrush and the Lord's Prayer

Spring has arrived OFFICIALLY but before I share a sweet, spring/husband story about the birds but NOT the bees J

INTENTIONAL demands another visit as my Lenten prayers continue.

I sort of wanted to believe I knew all I needed to know about being intentional. I thought I was being INTENT. About my walk with God.

 It’s a hard lesson for me to learn and it just would not go away. At bedtime that week, I was reading Debbie Macomber’s book, God’s Guest List, and she got really specific about searching INTENTIONALLY for God’s gifts and HIS INTENT for our lives. *sigh*

So I tried harder. But, while trying to adjust to my new life of constant pain, in spite of my very own words on my very own blog, disgruntlement became a permanent uninvited guest *double sigh*

Next, a comment arrived from Craig http://www.deepintolove.com/ I found Craig's blog at A Holy Experience where Ann Voskamp keeps tract of A Thousand Gifts. I can’t encourage you enough to take time to visit Craig’s love blog. It is a serious time of delightful, soul-building worship.) And even Craig can get a little pushy….in his comment that you can read below, he mentioned TIME. Being intentional with--*really big deep sigh* time.

Funny how God will take the v e r y  l o n g way around to get my attention. You see, my dental hygienist is the best in the world, hands down, but she nags me every four months to work harder on brushing TWO MINUTES, three times, EVERY DAY. I think “work harder” is interpreted : “intentional.” Can you even guess how difficult it is for this Type A+ Miz-Fix-Everything to just stand at the sink for TWO WHOLE, LONG MINUTES—three times EVERY DAY and do NOTHING but let the toothbrush whir? ? ?

Well, it is DIFFICULT. Friday, March 18—the very day after I posted Intentionally Intent, even though I felt physically awful, I brushed my teeth!

As the brush whirred, suddenly I thought, “I could pray the Lord’s Pray while I brush; wonder how many times I can say it in two minutes?”

I memorized this prayer from King James himself way over sixty years ago but let me tell you!!!!! No matter how well your memory knows stuff, no matter how rote the exercise, no matter how well you can do something without thinking….

when you speak God's name and words, things change!!!!! Fast!

“Our FATHER.” Power bolt! “Who art in Heaven”

“Holy be Your name.” 'Nother BOLT!
Quickly, I began to speak as many of my Father’s names as I could remember. Next came:

“Thy will be done on earth…”  oops… Can I REALLY pray this???  His will?… here in my house, with my husband, with my daughter, my words, my thoughts, my actions….

“as it is in Heaven.”

“Give us this day our daily bread.” My friend Beverly who is as old as me was DRIVING from Texas to Kansas the next morning; that’s a right now, real, a today’s bread need. Then Father and I chatted a bit about Beverly and some other friends who had serious right-now-today needs.

Knowing what was next, I wanted to stop . But the toothbrush still whirred away.

And forgive us our SINS…” oh yes, Father, PLEASE. Oops. Uh… now I gotta think about this one. *REALLY DEEP BREATH* ---while brushing.

“As we forgive those who sin against us…..” naming MY OWN SINS against others just spilled over and I could honestly let go of THEIR mis-steps with me. WOW! Sometimes the power of the Holy Spirit certainly gets SPECIFIC!!

And. The. Toothbrush. Stopped.

 I finished the prayer with head bowed deep over my ordinary, bathroom sink.

It humbles and delight me at God'S overwhelming grace as He gives me new things to pray during my Tooth-Brushing-Lord’s Prayer time. Every day. Through the same old prayer. Through ancient words. Through speaking HIS NAME.

This is all very up-close and personal, but it excites me to find God’s Hand and Love and Patience and Understanding in the most mundane of human endeavors so I wanted to share it with you!

And my pain doesn’t seem to be a big deal any more.

Dearest Love from

Liz

With arms held high!
P.S. One place to find  where the Lord taught us to pray is Matthew 6:9-13.

Intentionally Intent

Some words just won’t go away.

My head is spinning with life:

¨    dwelling in the season of Lent

¨    pondering things of the wilderness, the Cross, the empty tomb

¨    keeping track of medical appointments and tests for three of us

¨    thank you notes that must be written

¨    cards that must be sent to friends fighting one battle or another

¨    rearranging the house—downsizing—creating uncluttered space

¨    cleaning out—organizing—fixing—repairing

¨    and then there is the outside (oh shudder-shudder; too much too soon)

¨    waiting for reports from various doctors

¨    trying to get to the work-out pool 3xWk

¨    and then there are the meals, the laundry, the regular house upkeep

          Those are just the “normal,” as most of you know. [For my younger readers, I never said life got easier with retirement. I did say that multi-tasking becomes more complicated.]

          In the midst of the above and daily life in general, INTENTIONAL has bounced into my life like a brick. It won’t go away.

          The word first yelled for my attention in my first reading of Ann Voskamp’s A Thousand Gifts some 3 weeks ago.  I thought about it awhile and decided, “Yes, that is a good thing to do… be intentional about my faith.” 

 I even began naming my gifts—writing down the little and the big and the in-between things that God bestows unearned and unsought.

         
 I worked on my prayer time. I watched for God’s unexpected gifts…. I worked on my attitude…. I made lists of gratitude.

And then.. I got busy with the “stuff” above …and then I forgot.

How many times in my life have I seen the word intentional?  None that I remember until Ann’s book.

During the past 4 days, INTENTIONAL showed up in:

©    two blogs I read regularly

©    in my Other Favorite Author Number 3 Debbie Macomber’s new book God’s Guest List

©    in the fine-print of some medical information

©    and in Connie Cowan’s on-line Lenten Study Walking to the Cross.

OKAY. Okay. I’m getting it.

I looked up INTENTIONAL in the dictionary. You don’t need me to list the synonyms but you know I will:

INTENT

          Goal

          Target

          Objective

          Plan

INTENTIONAL

          Deliberate

                    Purposeful

                    Conscious

          On purpose

          Planned

          Calculated

                    Designed

                    Premeditated

          Seems to me that the funny little word, INTENTIONAL, shows up in my path, over and over, to remind me of my own mission to PRACTICE and FOCUS and LEARN and STAND FIRM.

          You know, those things Paul said. The things I just wrote about three days ago on Grappling with Contentment!!

I hope you’ll join me in keeping on keeping on and

Standing on the Promises

Liz

And Jesus said, “Why are you sleeping?

Rise and pray that you many not enter into temptation.”

Luke 22:46 [NAST]