40-Day Challenge: Pride (Day 24)
April 5, 201140-Day Challenge: Quiet (Day 26)
April 7, 2011
Begin with the Prayer of Abandonment.
See that little gadget on my dashboard? That’s Gertrude … Gertrude Penelope Saxton (GPS). I never go anywhere without her, primarily because when I do I have a tendency to drive in hopeless circles. With her, I’ve been known to drive across whole states without incident.
I don’t usually have a Rosary on my windshield — although I usually keep one on hand when I’m flying someplace. (As in “on a plane,” as I have yet to receive the gift of levitation). Part of me thinks that the plane is more likely to stay in the air that way. The other part needs something to do for the take-off part of the flight, which is the part that statistically is the most dangerous.
So in a way, this picture gives you a rather succinct image of my prayer life: When I need direction, I pray (unless I’m driving, when I just listen for Gertrude’s promptings). And when I’m anxious, I pray (unless I’m driving, as I find closing my eyes and clasping my hands does nothing to calm me or my passengers).
At the end of the day, I like to recap using a form of the ACTS prayer (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) that goes like this:
“I LOVE you God because …..”
“I’m SORRY, God, because …..”
“THANK YOU, God, for …….”
“HELP me, God, to …..”
The other day as I was going through the steps, it occurred to me that this formula also works with husbands, when we need a little “check-in” (or if there’s just a lull in the conversation):
“Honey, do you know something? I love you because ……”
“And honey, I’ve been thinking about something. I want you to know that I’m sorry because ….”
“I was also thinking of how thankful I was when you …… I don’t think I thanked you properly. So, thanks!” [Insert appreciative kiss here.]
“Have you given any thought to what you’d like to do this weekend? It would make me really happy if you could ….. Is there anything I can do for you?”
Today’s Challenge: What do you love most about your husband, and what does he do to make you thankful? Jot them down and post them on the bathroom mirror, or somewhere else you’ll see it during the day. When you do, don’t forget to thank God for your sweetheart, and ask God to bless him today.
Today’s Prayer: God, I love you because …. I’m sorry that I …. I’m thankful today because …. Please help me ….
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Yesterday, 3/7/11, I was catching up on reading your challenges. After reading the three I needed to catch up on, I decided to do something sweet for my husband (over my usual thanking him). I used about twenty small post-it notes and wrote on each of them, “I love you because…” and then proceeded to write a little something on each one. Some were little tokens, “I love you because… you make great coffee” or “you watch Glee with me.” But some were big, “I love you because… you held me when my dog died and let me cry in your arms as long as I needed to,” and “you come to me when you are weak and let me take care of you for a change.” Then I stuck each one around where his face would be on our bathroom mirror. He didn’t use our bathroom all afternoon. He’d had a tough day, nothing really to talk about, but he’s also only one month from when he quit smoking, so even ordinary days are kind of tough. When he finally went to take his contacts out at 10pm, he saw them. All was quiet and he came to me in our bed and rubbed my shoulder so I would turn over and see his eyes. He told me, “Thank you, I really needed that today.” It was wonderful. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
Dear Christine: Your note made MY day, too! Thanks so much for sharing! Heidi