The Lord’s Prayer
Travel is designed to ease your stress and clear your head. We crave the refreshment of a retreat, don’t we? While that’s true, travel can trigger temper tantrums. Kids stomp their feet, parents snap towards the backseat, and stress can get the best of us, even with our toes in the sand.
For me, this was apparent during an anniversary trip to the Northwest. Nothing went according to plan. It was pouring rain, so it was like hiking in a shower. I forgot to make any reservations, so we ate ice cream for dinner. My patience was short, so I snapped at my spouse. Feeling like this trip was a waste of three months’ rent, I plopped down on the shore of the pacific ocean and looked up at the snow-capped mountains that surround Seattle.
Suddenly, my problems felt small. Everything around me was so big and beautiful. Every square inch of this mammoth landscape proclaimed the glory of God. Sitting next to the vastness of the sea and the majesty of the mountains, I got a glimpse of God’s vastness and my smallness. My problems didn’t disappear, but this moment put them into perspective. If God can create this out of nothing, God can certainly calm my heart. When Jesus taught us how to pray, the first line says, ‘Hallowed be [God’s] name” (Matthew 6:9). A crucial ingredient of effective prayer is embracing God’s position of power. You have probably never said the word “hallowed” outside a church service or funeral. It’s an old school religious word that simply translates to “Holy,” which means “to separate; to cut.” When we say that God is hallowed, we are saying that He is separate, superior, and supreme. God is on a different level. He’s personal because He’s our Father. He’s powerful because He’s the God of the entire universe.
God’s Hallowed nature helps us put our problems into perspective. What frightens you does not frighten God. What frustrates you does not frustrate God. What’s impossible for you is possible for God