Did you know that as your day goes on, you can make every little thing a prayer? These summer months present a challenge to us as moms and I hear more often than not that people “don’t have time for prayer” in the summer months, with all the commotion and “present company” being kept at all hours. Yes, our little ones occupy our thoughts, and keep us busy cleaning up chocolate milk or paint off the porch (one of my tricks, it is easier than paint off the floor!) and getting yet another popsicle top cut off with the sticky scissors, can all be “brain-consuming”. But cleaning those sticky scissors, wiping the sidewalk chalk foot prints off the wood floor, and picking up the crayons for the eighth time can all be made into small sacrifices for God.

Who is the best example of sacrifices? Jesus! He gave up his life for ministry, his life on the cross, food for 40 days, time and space to himself with the crowds around him, always wanting food (fishy crackers, popsicles), healing (band-aids, neosporin) and entertaining the Pharisees with theological arguments as to why they should listen to their Father (“We’re bored! We don’t want to pick up our rooms. That is boring!”) Am I getting my point across? Are you feeling it?

That’s right! They didn’t come up with the whole “What Would Jesus Do” motto for nothing. It is because Christ knows our hearts, experienced every sentiment human nature can put on the shelf (God became man) and even took off from his earthly parents at age 12 (okay, it was to sit in the church and talk with the elders, and ours may be over in Game Stop in the mall when you go to try on ONE pair of shoes!)

So are you getting the idea? Jesus did all of these things to:

• Fulfill his vocation (ours is 1. being a wife 2. being a mom…in that order; another article on this coming soon)
• Teach others by example (“pick those crayons up”, “share that cookie with your brother”)
• Love (when you are thinking “I would really love a good book and a long bath right now” but you wipe a nose and go out to start the sprinkler again)
• Bring us to God by way of his loving presence (why we don’t go lock ourselves in our room for hours, but instead go running into the dark, smelly garage for 5 minutes while you hear the kids running by the garage door inside screaming “MOM!! HE HIT ME! Where did she go?”

You see? Your every moment, joyful, happy, sad, stressed, gross (this one is for my friend whose daughter kills worms and carries them around all day) and unplanned are all meant for God. They are His design to keep us close and depending on Him, counting every blessing be they ever so hard to count some days, and stretching us to be His, made for Heaven, so we can adore Him for all eternity. Maybe we will need some of these skills for Heaven? (Do angels color?)