Rejoicing on a Mundane Monday

Much of our lives includes ordinary work and chores. We all have to do things that don't excite us at work or around the house or in running errands. It's easy to lapse into feeling bored, empty, or like we are trivial. Or to complain (in our thoughts if not out loud) about what we have to do.

This was my temptation beginning my Monday.

To keep from grumping along today I picked up a special prayer rock. It's piece of the outdoor stone theatre in Sephoris Israel. Jesus may have helped to build this marvelous theatre where the "play actors" (same word as "hypocrite" in the Bible) performed.

As I've held my rock today I've thought about Jesus working hour after hour as a carpenter or a stone cutter. I've thought about my "Blue Collar Savior" smiling as he serves hard to please customers and blesses them when they complain. I've imagined him meditating on Scripture and praying while he worked.

For most of his life on earth Jesus worked an ordinary job in an obscure village, loving God and people, praying and playing with his Father, day after day.

Today, Jesus is helping me to appreciate his presence in my midst. In the words of the Apostle John: "I am the disciple Jesus loves!"

Could there be any greater cause for rejoicing than that? Even on a mundane Monday!

A Little but Powerful Prayer for Lent

One of the things I'm doing for Lent is carrying a rock in my pocket. Sounds like a funny thing to do, huh?

It's a prayer rock. I have a number of them. I found this one in Israel at what may have been the Apostle Paul's prison cell at the palace in Caesarea by the Sea.

I use it to remind me to shoot up little arrow prayes as I go about my day: "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (the Apostle Paul's words in Philippians 1:21).

Sometimes I breathe in deep and slow as I whisper: "To live is Christ." I hold my breath to help me hold the Spirit and the Word in my consciousness. Then I release: "To die is gain." My exhaling a prayer helps me to let go of agendas and ambitions and to follow Christ's leadership.

The rock and the prayer remind me to turn my thoughts toward Christ and his sacrifice for me and you.

Maybe you've tried a form of Centering Prayer that you'd like to share? Or perhaps you have a way you're celebrating Lent that could encourage others?