by Lilly Lewin
by Lilly Lewin. All Rights Reserved
The Celtic Christians had prayers they prayed for daily tasks like: starting the fire in the morning, making the beds, prayers as they walked to the fields to work, etc. I follow their lead and pray as I do daily tasks around the house. I am someone who hates to do housework! So I had to make housework a prayer practice starting with my kitchen. We lived in a house in Cincinnati that had a horrible kitchen, it really was stuck in 1985; dark wood cabinets, geese stenciling and no dishwasher. Let’s just say I detest doing dishes, but since Rob is the chef dishes are my duty. I decided to turn my kitchen into a prayer room. First I made a prayer window using colorful post it notes to write down prayer requests and people I was praying for and I stuck them on the windowpanes.
As I did dishes I would pray for these friends and family members. As people asked me to pray for them I added them to the window. I added a small dray erase board over the sink to add things I needed to pray for that came up while I did dishes. I covered up the ugly wall paper on one wall with a large map of the world and added post it notes to the map for friends and needs around the world. As I listened to the news in the kitchen, I was reminded to pray for places around the globe where the love and peace of God were needed.
My lint filter in my dryer started out as a Lenten prayer practice and now is my daily prayer reminder. When I clean out the lint I ask God what the things are that need cleaning out in my life? It’s an opportunity for confession of the stuff that I need to give up and ask for forgiveness.
Another prayer practice happens when I am out doing errands. I let God inspire me to pray using cars and license plates. When I see the kind of car a friend or family member drives, I am reminded to pray for that person. My son drives a Ford Explorer so when I see one I am reminded to pray for him. My friend Sandy drives a VW beetle so when I see one I pray for her. I’ve also used letters on license plates as prayer reminders. While stopped in traffic or at a light I look around for initials that remind me to pray for people. One year I was having a conflict with a certain person and it seemed like daily I would see a license plate with this person’s initials on it! I was reminded to ask God to love that person I was having a problem loving and change my attitude towards him. Not easy to do! I call this type of prayer practice “praying along the way.” For more ideas check out freerangeworship.com.
This post is part of our September Creative Prayer theme.