Devotions for the Rest of Us #2

9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.[a]' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

This morning I was praying for my son about a job interview he had Sunday. We only want this if it's what God wants and it reminded me of praying "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." What does that really mean?

Can you imagine if everything we did followed the pattern of your kingdom come, your will be done here as it is done in heaven? This is a teaching prayer, we don't just recite it, we should be able to live it. So how does that happen?

Of course you can find wonderful teaching on this, my claim here is not to be a great teacher, it's that I have all these questions that I think we all have.... how in the heck to I do it???

This week a nurse I work with lost her daughter in a horrible accident. The husband now will be a single parent to a 4year old and a 1 year old. As co-workers we have all been stunned, you would think working in the ER we would be prepared for this, but honestly, we don't see it as much as you would think (thank you Jesus) and of course, this is someone we know. The response has been very emotional and very real. But the thing that has touched me is that we are reaching out to each other. It's one time that people are talking about "the Lord" in a very real way. And it gives a good chance to open a door about where we are "in the Lord."

This weekend I worked at my old job and as I was walking to lunch I passed a room, looked in and saw a physician I know. His mother was a patient there. I stopped and spoke with him for some time. His comment was how kind everyone had been. He doesn't know my name, but I'm a familiar face to him. It was the stopping and checking, the interaction. He opened up to me in a way that people never do unless they are very needy of love and kindness. It was very much a chance to minister God's love to someone in a way that would be received like no other time.

How many times do we have to make the choice to be kind, to be generous, to be an extension of what Jesus has done in and for us? It's those daily choices that make us like him, that carry out his kingdom, that bring his will to our lives. If we don't do the little kindness, we won't have a chance to do the big things. Evaluate what kingdom living is... what would it mean if his will was done by all?

The other thing about these times is that we are okay with being who we are. We are truly honest with where we are. That's the thing that is so difficult for us. For me. I want to look good to people, so I don't tell you what I think or did unless it makes me look good. We all do this, but what if we were real. Then the question becomes will we accept one another, will we help each other, and will we grow to be like Jesus or accept status quo? The best example I can give of this is one day a couple of weeks ago I was involved in a conversation about something another nurse did. I thought I was saying something positive but later that day one of my friends said that he had been disappointed that I had been involved in the conversation, he thought better of me and that we should be kinder to that nurse. Regardless of what I thought I was saying, being involved was wrong unless I had stood up for her. I felt like I had been slapped! It was a very gentle reminder that I had failed to be the person I should have been. And now I'm trying, note trying to be more generous about who I am and who I represent.

So my thinking is that it's the little things that sometimes show best who we are as Christians. We need to walk gently, make small decisions to be kind, to give grace to those around us... then we can do the big things that we are asked to do. Like toddlers learning to walk, little steps before we run.