I have good intentions to start my day with prayer. I’ve written many times about morning rituals of making tea and lighting candles. I’ve posted on social media pictures of my front porch where I sit in my rocking chair and admire God’s majesty in the sunrise. Those prayerful moments are sacred, and I hold them close because they are as rare as a treasure.
You see, my humanity creeps in, and, more often than not, prayer is a tug of war for me. I’m not sure why this is, as I love my prayer time. However, I am easily distracted by other commitments. Though I typically have the discipline to begin my day thanking the Lord, far too often the next step is checking my text messages, then opening my laptop, and that begins a slippery slope toward distraction and away from God.
I recently shared a discussion on prayer with a friend where the suggestion was made to open your front door each morning and welcome God into your day. I work well with such spiritual anchors: the idea of welcoming God into my day as a treasured friend, the kind who rolls up his sleeves and folds laundry with you while you talk or does your dishes while you prep dinner.
This friend stays for the day and wants to be with you. This friend recognizes that we might not get that one-on-one time for deep conversation, but moment by moment we talk as we work. We share looks across the kitchen island that speak volumes. We are in constant communication, and it is a loss when this friend goes home.
Welcoming God into the everyday allows us to work with Him and to call on Him. I cherish the friendships I have where the friend lets me into the messiness – when the laundry is in baskets overflowing and dishes are in the sink, and I have a “You, too?” moment. My heart is softened by the realization that this person loves me enough to welcome me into her real world.
Imagine opening the front door every morning, rain or shine, thunder or lightning, because family life has all of these, right? Imagine opening the front door and welcoming Jesus into it all.
Humor is often my saving grace, and I sprinkle it heavily throughout my days. The old saying, “Better to laugh than to cry,” runs through my head frequently. The image of a waitress announcing the daily special as you sit down. Today’s order is an aging parent who needs help scheduling doctor appointments mixed with a teenage daughter who wants a ride to a friend’s house.
The chef has also prepared a broken dryer, a kitchen full of dishes and a toddler with a tummy ache. But for dessert we have a delicious family dinner where everyone is seated together and getting along and afterward a joy-filled game of ultimate frisbee. The ups and downs of family life are not unfamiliar to Jesus, and certainly not for Mother Mary, whose ups and downs of motherhood began from conception to her assumption into heaven.
How blessed are we that the messiness of our daily life is right where God wants to be!
One way we have welcomed Jesus into the reality of our family is to enthrone our home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We have both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary hung in a place of honor. We have entrusted our family, our home and our lives to Jesus, and living that fully means truly welcoming Him as family and keeping Him close to our hearts. Perhaps this is an anchor you can use in your prayer life.
St. Jean Vianney, patron saint of priests, says, “Without prayer we have neither light nor strength to advance in the way which leads to God.” I love this quote because it orients me back to where I need to be as someone who is trying to follow Christ.
Mother Teresa reminds us that, “Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God,” welcoming Him into your home and your heart. She also says, “Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of Himself.”
This is the type of continuous, working together kind of prayer where we keep God so close to our hearts what we become one with Him through prayer. I love that that is attainable through something as small as opening my front door.
This is not my season for monastic prayer, though it is a beautiful form of prayer. As a mom of eight children, I savor deep moments of reflection and conversation with the Lord. I also recognize how much easier my days are when I don’t keep Jesus just in a little box I take out when I pray, but rather walk with Him hand in hand, heart to heart throughout every raindrop, every eye roll, every hug, every song and every whispered prayer as I persevere throughout my day.