My 10th Little Thing

Recap:  Most of what I needed for writing was collected in a folder in my email.  I have found three places to submit, and now I just have to do it.  Feel free to check in with me and make me accountable on this one!

Week 10:  Use a map

Let me just start by saying the map song on Dora the Explorer is the most uninspired, annoying tune on the planet.  “I’m a map, I’m a map, I’m a map, I’m a map, I’m a map.”  Really?  Someone got paid for that.  Low standards, that’s all I’m saying. (The really sad part of this is that sometimes when I’m loading the dishwasher I find myself singing the map song. Pregnancy brain has reduced me to this!)

Anyway, thanks to Dora and map’s uncreative, persistent song, my kids know what a map is. We’re actually going to start using one.

I’m not trying to create geography geniuses; we are going to use a map to pray, and this is just as much for mom as it is for the kids.

After I read Radical,  I logged on to the Radical project site here.  I’m following the Bible reading, we were already working on Bible study with the kids, but I have failed with a capital F on praying for the world.  Know why?  Because I am selfish and I have never been hungry, freezing, worried about experiencing sex trafficking, lived in a world where I never heard the word Jesus, had someone shoot at me on my way to church, etc.  I live comfy, cushy, every day, and I have become a spiritual slug.  I knew it had gotten bad when I couldn’t bring myself to just read a webpage about a country and pray for them every day.  Seriously, it’s not like I'm grabbing a shovel and digging a well.  I couldn’t take time out of my cushy life or time spent praying for myself to pray for other people.  Slug.  Sad, disgusting slug.

But I’m covered in grace, so I don’t have to wallow in my ugliness. With God’s help, I’m going to make some changes in myself and try to help the kids understand the importance and the privilege of praying for others. We’re going to reboot the praying for the world part of the project, and we’ll use the map to mark places we’re praying for as we learn about them.   Visuals help hold me accountable, and the kids might actually learn the names of locations of other countries, as well as what the people in those countries face.  Now, to find a map.  I will not be seeking Dora's help on this as she annoys me to no end.