Do you remember the old children's song "Old McDonald"? I'm sure anyone with children know this song all to well. My kids loved the song because they got to be the animals, mooing, baaing, neighing, quacking, etc. But after a while and many road trips back and forth to Michigan or Virginia, the song like all things began to wear on my nerves. Old McDonald this, and Old McDonald this, and Mama wanted to know where Old McDonald kept all of his this and that and where in the world did he get tigers and bears???? Come on, you know what I'm talking about.
And now that they are older, all of mine are teenagers, I get to reflect and harbor those high school years of learning algebra and geometry...oh yea! And relearn how to do math I have
n't done in what seems like hundreds of years. You know the old saying with ...humm I don't remember which math it is now...but what is the shortest distance between two points...a straight line.
Learn and relearn, teach and reteach, do and redo. That's kind of what my life has become over the years, something like Old McDonald's farm only without animals but with laundry....here a pile, there a pile, everywhere a pile. And no matter how much you wash, it just keeps coming. And what is it about teenager (and chi
ldren) that they can't reuse the same glass??? When it seems like I've caught up on the laundry, the dishes and messy rooms start piling up. I can go through every room in the house, pick up all the dishes and when I go back through 5 - 10 mintues later....there are more. It's like magic, first you don't see it, then you do!! And it doesn't seem to stop there, when I go to work I walk into my small office and it seems as though the farm just followed me, or more like made it before I got there.....Here's a stack, there's a stack ...everywhere a stack, stack. It's just never ending, like the song, it just goes on and on and on, and more and more animals keep getting added to farm. Clutter, work, confusion, disorganization....when will the song end.
n't done in what seems like hundreds of years. You know the old saying with ...humm I don't remember which math it is now...but what is the shortest distance between two points...a straight line.Learn and relearn, teach and reteach, do and redo. That's kind of what my life has become over the years, something like Old McDonald's farm only without animals but with laundry....here a pile, there a pile, everywhere a pile. And no matter how much you wash, it just keeps coming. And what is it about teenager (and chi
ldren) that they can't reuse the same glass??? When it seems like I've caught up on the laundry, the dishes and messy rooms start piling up. I can go through every room in the house, pick up all the dishes and when I go back through 5 - 10 mintues later....there are more. It's like magic, first you don't see it, then you do!! And it doesn't seem to stop there, when I go to work I walk into my small office and it seems as though the farm just followed me, or more like made it before I got there.....Here's a stack, there's a stack ...everywhere a stack, stack. It's just never ending, like the song, it just goes on and on and on, and more and more animals keep getting added to farm. Clutter, work, confusion, disorganization....when will the song end.Then, this morning, doing a study book called Love to Pray, I found Old McDonald's farm once again. I know odd huh? That just when I thought I was getting a little peace from the farm it shows up again, only this time in God's word. It's amazing now to me to see that I related Paul's prayer life to Old McDonald's farm but truly it is exactly that way. From the time that Paul was converted, all the way through most of the new testament, Paul is constantly praying, offering prayer, saying he prayed, and on and on.. "God....is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times (Rom 1:9-10) -Here a Prayer. "We always thank god...when we pray for you...and we have not stopped praying for you" (Col 1:3,9) - There a Prayer. "I thank God...night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers (2 Tim 1:3) - Everywhere a Prayer Prayer. I actually have read these books, most of them letters from Paul to some group of people, but I never noticed that he starts, puts in the body, or ends with he prays. These are just a few of those places (and truth be told, I stole them from my study book Love to Pray - the author did this work for me but started me on a remembrance of Pauls prayers). It actually amazes me when I think of prayer as 'constant', 'always', 'continual', because it then becomes like my everyday life, like Old McDonald's farm....everywhere. And just like math in high school, when I try to find the shortest distance from where I am to where God wants me to be, I try to take the shortest route-the straight line (which never works). And somewhere between farms and 'point b' prayer steps in, prayer becomes the straight line between the two points!! So maybe that old song isn't so bad after all, maybe in some way it's just part of what I see in my life from a good and bad point of view. But in the end, it really only matters what I do with that farm, do I let it become a job and something that isn't something I love or do I embrace it and live it to get to God's ultimate destination for me? What part of your life has become like Old McDonald's farm? Have you started to work at figuring out the shortest distance between point A and B without God and on your own? I think most of us have and still do to some extent. Maybe Paul's letters of prayer were written over 2000 yrs ago, but still today someone is praying for us and thanking God for us daily, Jesus Christ is petitioning continually to God on our behalf. That farm isn't looking so bad now and the journey, well it might not be a straight line but I want to enjoy the scenary. How about you?
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