Wednesday, September 15, 2010

In Between The Dirty Dishes

Several mornings this week, my time with God has been interrupted by an early-waking baby.

"Alone time" is certainly harder to come by once little ones are on the scene.

On days when my set aside time alone with God is cut short, I have found it particularly helpful to try to incorporate times of prayer into my housework.
- While washing dishes. This one works the best for me! I have a list of names tucked near the kitchen sink that brings people to my mind to pray for.
 - When folding laundry. Folding doesn't take too much concentration, so it's a good time to direct my heart to the Lord. :)

- During minimum maintenance. Since min. maintenance is fast-paced for me, sometimes it's easier to sing.

I want to create a "trigger" for prayer by making a habit of incorporating it into these daily tasks. In my heart, I want to "pray without ceasing," but my mind is forgetful and distracted. So I'm trying to take some practical steps to keep running back to God all day long.

Tell me what works for you...



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12 comments:

  1. Great ideas on keeping Him in the middle of it all. I keep a list of things to pray for in my kitchen too! (Taped inside the cabinet.) One thing that is helpful to me is to pray when ever something or someone comes to mind. To just take a minute right then to pray. I have found this way I don't forget to do it later and it also helps with my tendency towards worry.

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  2. Laundry folding time works for me, and my favorite time is when I shower...

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  3. What a great idea! I don't listen to music when I run and reserve that time for prayer. But I should really incorporate it more into my daily housework. I'm sure it'd do wonders for my attitude! ;)

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  4. I also love spending my chore time praying or listening to (and singing along with) klove.com on my ipod. I'm in Italy so it's difficult to find Christian music locally - love that I can listen to Klove online while I'm working! Washing the dishes is something I really dislike, unless it's cold out, then I enjoy playing in the hot water LOL... so spending that time like this makes it a joyful experience.

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  5. You are so right to grab those small moments when you can! I try to do a quick prayer during dish time and in the shower. I have TWO monkeys, 2 & 11 months, so I have to steal time where I can. Great post.

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  6. I love just praying throughout the day over the things that just come to mind.

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  7. I saw an idea I want to try but haven't done yet: to post scriptures in places like kitchen cabinet doors or bathroom mirror as a prompt to talk to God. Also, I post my prayer reminders by our master toilet (crazy I know) but really that's the first place I am in the morning. ;-)

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  8. ooooh! Eos Mom, that is a brilliant idea! I should try that one!

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  9. Eos Mom: that's great! Although I find that I have to change the scriptures often or I start to not "see" them...

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  10. I talk to God a lot in the shower. I just get into my rountine of cleaning and I don't have to think much about it! Or like you said doing those daily cleaning tasks that don't occupy my active thoughts so much, its already habit to start talking to Him then, since otherwise I would just end up talking to myself anyway :)

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  11. Sometimes on those days that are just busy, "busy" encompassing a lot of things, singing is so wonderful. When my mind wants to go "Derrrrrrr....." when I try to pray or my heart is heavy because I'm fighting stress after having a busy day with a toddler it is so encouraging and helps bring my focus where it needs to be to sing a song praising God or a song that ask for His help to do what I need to do. Sometimes it has been helpful for me to write down a list of songs and post them somewhere for those moments that I can't think of what to sing. ;)

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  12. "Pray without ceasing"...I live this pretty much. Praying anywhere, while doing anything, at anytime...as things come to mind ;) Its like breathing.

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