peace . love . joy

Today's the day before Christmas Eve.

What would you say if I asked you what's the Lord's Prayer?

You'd probably recite the entire prayer for me, no?
Or even spit out the passage reference(s) in the Bible.

What if I asked you the exact same question again after your first answer?

You'd most probably then say it's a prayer because you're running out of answers to the question.

Those answers are not wrong. They are in fact correct.

But someone saw something that will stretch your vision.
Max Lucado saw something beyond a mere prayer, beyond the words written in the Bible, beyond the precise passage reference. Max Lucado saw a blueprint of the layout of rooms and passages and hallways, as guidelines and instruction for life, for living. It is more than a prayer, it is a life plan.

I don't know about you, but to me, these few verses can be rather general and even vague. Why? Because it is not terribly specific. It's like a single strawberry that has many stems growing from it, and on those stems, leaves and flowers and new fruit. People can read the same line and think about many different things, though originating from the same point, along the same tangent. But that non-specific-ness precisely is the the beauty of the prayer: it's for everyone.

It's a life plan for everyone.

So today, the day before Christmas Eve, I want to challenge you, and even myself, to re-eat the Lord's Prayer. But this time, to do so consciously seeking instruction for you, yourself, for wherever and whatever point you are in right now in your life. And then re-digest & re-mould the Prayer in your own personal words.

"In these verses, Christ has provided more than a model for prayer, he as provided a model for living.
These words do more than tell us what to say to God;
they tell us how to exist with God."

~ Max Lucado in 'The Great House of God'