Popcorn Prayers

Popcorn
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 Have you ever heard of the expression ‘popcorn prayers?’

Some days just run away without me having any idea where all those hours have gone.

Can it really be lunchtime?

Do we not have several more math pages to do and did I really forget to turn on the dishwasher?

Again.

Running into the laundry room to grab more construction paper, lifting my nose to the air and realising that I will have to run the wash again since its been in there a day …

Or three.

Homeschooling, with a husband traveling the globe and a house on the market and every room looking as tho no one really lives there, leaves little time for anything else.

Setting aside a prayer time, something else comes up and before I know it, I’ve emptied the dishwasher, folded three loads of laundry and cleaned up something the cat just threw up that may still have been alive …  that moment right there, is when I need to consider a moment for a ‘popcorn prayer’ .

Its a quick word with God. Just a moment. A mini prayer if you will.

God loves to hear those mini prayers that just ‘POP’ into your head as you are driving down the road, folding laundry, biting your tongue to keep you from chastising squabbling children … yes, I realise many of them start with “please God just give me strength but,” but He loves to hear from you just the same.  You can just say hello, or a thank you or even a whole conversation about what you think you should be teaching the next day. Its also a good way to encourage your kids to have little chats with their Heavenly Father in their day. Its a reminder to them, that  God is never too busy for us.

In my ideal world, every homeschool morning starts with a little prayer time with my children. In my real world, that doesn’t always happen.

In my ideal world, our homeschool lessons run so smoothly, there is always time for Bible study.  In my real world, sometimes Bible stories are on the go.

In my ideal world, homeschool is wrapped up so that we can take family walks to take in God’s beauty around us. In my real world … you get the picture …

And yet as homeschoolers, we are fortunate to blend our ideal world and our real world to make it the one we want to live in.  So making time should not be so hard, since we have all the time in the world.  No fixed schedule right. Do we have to have seven math papers done by 5, can we do some tomorrow?  Can we take more time … I for one, am in no hurry to ship my children to college, and yet am guilty of rushing us through our days some weeks. ‘Popcorn prayers’ give me a moment of reflection, to slow down, to give me a quick reality check on what really matters.

So while thinking of ‘popcorn prayers’, I thought about stringing popcorn with the girls.  No, not for Christmas but to count our blessings … for family, for our love, our pets, our school, our travels, our health, a friend, for chocolate (for wine – that’s mine) for God’s grace and love for us … how many pieces of popped corn could you string before you ran out of things to be thankful for?  Each one of of those little pieces could turn into a ‘popcorn prayer’  in your day. You could even be ready for a family movie night with all those individual strands you just made – you multitasker you 😉

But seriously …

1 Thessalonians 5:17 basically tells us to ‘just keep praying’ … so be sure to share whatever ‘pops’ into your head with your Heavenly Father.  Reminding our children for a little thanks here and there, is also reminder for each and every Mom I know.

He really is looking forward to hearing from you!

Nicole, was born in England, raised in South Africa, and recently became an American that talks funny.
A Liberal Christian Mom, currently living in sunny Florida, married to the man affectionately referred to as MR 51% in her blog. Has homeschooled her two cherubs since early 2008 and embraces the ‘World is our Classroom’ by traveling as often as they can. When she is home you can catch up with them in their outfit of choice – pj’s.
She loves Jesus. She says, What would Jesus do? A. Lot.
Nicole fills her blog with stories on life, travel, homeschooling, infertility and adoption.
She does not write about dieting or exercise. Some days – you should bring wine.
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3 Comments

  1. Thank you for having me over here today … being a part of the Hip Homeschool Moms is a blessing and a gift! Hope that everyone has a wonderful week … and yes, pop some corn and be thankful!

  2. Thank you for your words. I will be sharing the ideal of popcorn prayers with my nephews. This is very biblical. Jesus talk a lot about popcorn prayers in the gospels. There were only two instances where he said go in your closet and pray in private and where he went to a deserted place to pray alone, but let’s be real. Jesus knew we would be busy in this lifetime. 🙂

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