Getting Ready For a Facelift—in our Condo

matterofprayer blog post for Thursday, April 3, 2014

Getting Ready For a Facelift—in our Condo

Getting all my ducks in a row! I am in the process of preparing to have my living room painted in a week. Oh, and a facelift done to the bathroom (new tile, vanity, medicine cabinet, and paint. That’s next week, too. And, in case I forget, a third thing. New carpet will be laid in twelve days. On top of everything else. (Well, not on top of—more like in addition to.) Talk about spring cleaning!

It’s a good thing I started about ten days ago. Giving myself some amount of time. Our agreement with the people who will lay the carpet is that our family will move all our books beforehand and get them out of the apartment. All four floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and six waist-high bookshelves. That’s a lot of books. My daughter and I have been gradually packing them up. My son’s been bringing them down to the basement. That’s the problem with having so many books. I mean, books are marvelous! But, books are also heavy, and can get dusty, and need to be moved from time to time. (Since I have an allergy to dust, I’ve been sneezing regularly, too.)

Amidst all of this uproar in our home, I’ve been considering spring cleaning in other ways, too. God, I am sure I need some spring cleaning in my spiritual house, too. One problem: I am so busy preparing for the workers (coming soon!) that I have difficulty thinking about my spiritual fitness. Thank God that I am praying on a regular basis. (Yay, me!) God, You know how much I have struggled with that, for years and years. Now, it seems to be going fairly well, on a regular basis. At least, for now. I think I’ll take that one day at a time, if You don’t mind. If my prayer life is working, I won’t mess with it.

God, please point out to me an area of my spiritual life that You would like to pay some attention to. For that matter, show it to me, and I’ll try to focus on it. With Your help, You and I together can tackle most any problem. And if I really need help, I have some good friends who also walk this journey with You, too. I think one or two would be happy to give me a hand. Thanks for the push, God. You know I need a push sometimes. Even most of the time.

Let’s pray! Dear God, thank You for spring, and the time for spring cleaning. Forgive me—forgive us—for forgetting about You, or getting too busy to even think about You. Thank You for good friends, who will help me in any spiritual house-cleaning You want me to do. It’s in Your blessed name we pray, Amen.

@chaplaineliza
(also published at http://www.matterofprayer.net Shortlink:

Gratitude List

matterofprayer blog post for Saturday, January 4, 2014

Gratitude List

God, I haven’t intentionally written a gratitude list for some time. Several of my friends and acquaintances write gratitude lists on a regular basis. It’s definitely a worthwhile practice! However, I have never gotten into that particular habit.

Still, I have written them on occasion. A gratitude list came to my mind for some reason this evening. I will take advantage of my being at the computer. I’ll start writing my list.

I am grateful for good health—for me. Without that, life would be very different. I am grateful for my husband and family. My husband is a wonderful, interesting, intelligent, straight-forward person, and I thank God for him. My family—three lovely daughters and one good-looking son—is a joy and a blessing to me. (Even though the second two are still teens.) All are healthy, all inquisitive, all intelligent. I love my children and am so grateful for them.

I am grateful for friends, for acquaintances, even for people I see on an occasional basis but don’t know their names. These people are touchpoints and my foundation, and without them my life would be infinitely poorer. I am grateful for the varying places in my life, my community, my church, my workplace. These are all the scenery and backdrops for my life.

I am grateful for our snug condominium and the fascinating, diverse town where we live. I am grateful for the excellent public transportation system in our town (linking us to downtown Chicago—the big train is four blocks from our house, the Elevated train two blocks away, and a bus stops on the corner). I am grateful for employment—my husband full-time and me part-time. I am grateful for a working car and for money for gas and car expenses. I am grateful for computers (plural—we have several laptops).

I am grateful for food to eat, extra food in the cupboards, clothes and shoes to wear. I am grateful for enough. I am grateful for a piano (thank you, Grandpy!), for music—in general, and for the gift of being able to make and enjoy many different varieties of music. I am especially grateful for the endless inventive and creative nature God has given to humans so that they might compose music, write books and produce artwork of all kinds. I am grateful that I have the use of all of my limbs and my physical capabilities, and I show my gratitude by going to the gym on a regular basis. Sure, I have complaints. Gripes. Things may even be significantly wrong, or at least not to my liking. I wonder what God is doing, sometimes! But if I look at the big picture, my life is amazingly blessed.

Let’s pray. Thank You, God, for blessing me and my family with such abundance. Thank You for graciously providing for our needs, one day at a time. Forgive me for my gripes and complaints, even though You pour out your abundant blessings on us, new every morning. Thank You for the gift of Your grace and Your glory poured out upon us. I know I can never thank You enough, but I can try. Thank You again.

@chaplaineliza