From the moment I was born, I have been surrounded, or rather, covered in prayer. My Dad baptized me in the hospital the day I was born and “prayed without ceasing” to bring both of his girls home. – prayer answered.
As a young child my Grandmother expressed to me the importance of “praying without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and she was a bold, vibrant and prominent example to me of just exactly how to do that. An emergency vehicle would fly by and a “Hail Mary” was said. We would drive by a school, or meet a school bus – another “Hail Mary” was said. She would thank God for the yummy carrots she was peeling and for the richness of the soil they were grown in and the grandchild who helped her to plant them and the other grandchild who assisted in harvesting them and for all the “folks” who would enjoy eating them. She would make 20-30 sandwiches every day for the “men” in the field and she prayed that it would bring them nourishment and joy as they ate them. Everything my Grandmother did was a prayer and she was not at all ashamed or distracted by that fact. She called it a loving duty. That example, to pray unceasingly, has remained with me some 40+ years and most recently has developed a life, a soul of its own in the past 13 years.
That being said I found that for me, “to pray without ceasing” was a very tall order that I found to be quite tedious and difficult, that is until I met Sr. Lucille at my first teaching job at Our Lady of the Prairie in Belle Plaine. Sr. Lucille taught the first graders. It was a small Catholic parish with an even smaller school, I wore many “hats”. I was the librarian, lunch lady, recess supervisor, PE, science and music teacher as well as bus patrol for my class of 10 second graders. (7 and 8 year olds) It seemed to me I was always counting my class to make sure I had no stragglers or wanderers. I called it “counting heads”.
One afternoon, I was taking my class outside for an extra PE class as they were bouncing off the walls and could not focus and Sr. Lucille’s class of first graders was coming in from lunch break. In passing Sr. Lucille ask me to help her “count her noses” and she handed me a box of tissues. She would start with her “little ladies”, and I was entrusted with her pristine line of “young gentlemen” (did I mention she was a Benedictine nun in full habit – maybe 85 pounds soaking wet). My job, to distribute a “fresh tissue” so they could take care of all the runny and itchy noses while she “counted heads”. She would then collect all of the “used tissues” from her kiddos and say “yup all of my noses are accounted for”. And they all headed back into class. I asked her later why she “counted noses” instead of heads, she gave me a huge Benedictine smile and said I count both (heads when I hand out the tissues and noses when I collect them. “But [she would say} noses are much more fun, and they come in different shapes, sizes and runniness capability and THIS YEAR I HAVE FOUR WITH FRECKLES!” She also told me that as she handed out the tissues she prayed a Hail Mary for each of her children by name and a Glory Be when she collected the soiled ones. I have been counting noses in some fashion every day since.
I have a large wall in my living room (12x8) and on it I have the pictures of my special “noses” (family, friends, co-workers, groupies and their families). When I receive a request for prayer for safe travel, strengthening of a weakened marriage, some terrible illness or cancer, or some other need, their names are lovingly written on a post it note and added to my wall of noses. They remain there as long as necessary. When I receive word that my prayers have been heard and answered… I add another post-it note of thanksgiving for the prayer answered. A special young friend painted a plaque for me to hang on my wall that simply reads: God Bless My Noses, AND that is exactly what He does.
Michelle Chalmers
