Live life like a prayer to God.
I heard this the other day. It got me thinking.
Do you tend to separate your spiritual/faith life from your everyday work or school life? If yes, why? Are you not a whole person? Why divide yourself? (Ever hear of the strategy, “divide and conquer”? I bet the devil has.)
You do not have to live in a monastery to live your life like a prayer. Does a prayerful life mean mental or verbal prayer 24 hours a day? No, it means actively carrying God with you throughout your day. As you lie in bed after the alarm clock goes off in the morning, God is there. As you tell stories and jokes at lunch with your friends, God is there. As you watch a beautiful sunset, or listen to a bird sing, God is there. If you open the door for another, or embrace your lover, God is there. God is even there when you flip the other driver off for cutting you off, when you scream at your kids, when you pass along a piece of juicy gossip, when your heart is broken, when you get robbed at the ATM machine, or when your hair falls out from the chemo-therapy. God is always there, everywhere, every when.
Above I said, “actively carrying God with you”. That is not technically correct. God is always with you. He loves you so much that He is going to let you be completely free in what you do, choose, and believe. You are just too busy in your pursuit of worldly matters to recognize or remember Him. He is the quiet, silent best Friend. And in a way, He is the one carrying you. It is your arrogance and pride that makes you think otherwise.
To live a prayerful life is to remember that God is in and of everything you do. Do not be blind. Open your eyes. Be aware.
Two cars were waiting at a stoplight. The light turned green, but the man didn’t notice it. A woman in the car behind him is watching traffic pass around them. The woman begins pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move. The man doesn’t move. The woman is going ballistic inside her car, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel and dash. The light turns yellow and the woman begins to blow the car horn, flips him off, and screams profanity and curses at the man.
The man, looks up, sees the yellow light and accelerates through the intersection just as the light turns red. The woman is beside herself, screaming in frustration as she misses her chance to get through the intersection.
As she is still in mid-rant, she hears a tap on her window and looks up at a very serious looking police officer. The police officer tells her to shut off her car while keeping both hands in sight. She complies, speechless at what is happening. After she shuts off the engine, the policeman orders her to exit her car with her hands up. She gets out of the car. He orders her to turn and place her hands on her car. He handcuffs her and takes her to the police station where she is fingerprinted, photographed, searched, booked and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a police officer approaches the cell and opens the door for her. She is escorted back to the booking desk where the original officer is waiting with her personal effects and says, “I’m really sorry for this mistake. But you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the “Choose Life” license plate holder, the “What Would Jesus Do” bumper sticker, the “Follow Me to Sunday School” bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally I assumed you had stolen the car.”
This is one of those email jokes. Although it exaggerates some of our frustrations with driving, it also happens to have a lesson in humility, forgiveness, integrity, and proclaiming the gospel. Your actions speak louder than your words. Who is hearing your “words”? Are they going to mistake your identity?
I found the following line in a prayer posted at anima:
why is it i can love other people…until i start driving a car?
This line reminded me of one of the first comments I made to my friend David shortly after I had found faith in God nearly two years ago, “It is hard to be a Christian and drive on the highway.”
Driving a car seems to be a good allegory or metaphor for describing the Christian journey. And so, I have created a new category called “Driving” to explore this area.
There were these two nuns. One was known as Sister Mathematica and the other as Sister Logica. It was getting dark, and they were still far off from the convent.
Sister Mathematica: Have you noticed that a man has been following us for the past thirty-eight and a half minutes? I wonder what he wants.
Sister Logica: It’s logical. He wants to rape us.
SM: Oh, no! At this rate he will reach us in 15 minutes at the most. What can we do?
SL: The only logical thing to do of course is to walk faster.
SM: It’s not working
SL: Of course it’s not working. The man did the only logical thing. He started to walk faster too.
SM: So, what shall we do? At this rate he will reach us in one minute.
SL: The only logical thing we can do is split. You go that way and I’ll go this way. He cannot follow us both.
So the man decided to follow Sister Logica. Sister Mathematica arrives at the convent and is worried about what has happened to Sister Logica. Then Sister Logica arrives.
SM: Sister Logica! Thank God you are here! Tell me what happened!
SL: The only logical thing happened. The man couldn’t follow us both, so he followed me.
SM: Yes, yes! But what happened then?
SL: The only logical thing happened. I started to run as fast as I could and he started to run as fast as he could.
SM: And?
SL: The only logical thing happened. He reached me.
SM: What did you do?
SL: The only logical thing to do. I lifted my dress up.
SM: Oh, Sister! What did the man do?
SL: The only logical thing to do. He pulled down his pants.
SM: Oh, no! What happened then?
SL: Isn’t it logical, Sister? A nun with her dress up can run faster than a man with his pants down…
And for those of you who thought it would be dirty, pray for forgiveness. 😉
