Preciously Predictable

Since most of my life is marked by the mundane, it has been my quest for some time now to find purpose, joy and even glory in it. Though I fail miserably more often than I would like to admit, I feel that it is vital to pick myself up, refocus my life and try again while leaning continually on God’s forgiving and empowering grace. There is a tendency for people, myself included, to see the ordinary as something to be tolerated at best while they wait in anxious expectation for something better and more fulfilling to come along. I, for one, find this to be a most miserable experience. Even when something exciting and wonderful comes along, it will eventually pass or its newness will grow old and the accompanying excitement will fade.

Take vacation for example: You plan most of the year for it and anticipation arises at it approaches. During travel to the long awaited destination your imagination is busy with the upcoming blissfulness of it all. It comes, it goes and you return home. How do you feel? Pretty down, huh?

Or maybe you’re building your dream home or expecting a new baby. These things bring great and wonderful highs to our lives, but they are also unavoidably followed by lows. Some of the youth at our church are planning for an exciting camp experience and our children just returned from one. The youth are experiencing an increasing emotional high, which has yet to climax, and our children are probably experiencing some level of post camp blues. This is a normal thing. We are not created to live at constant elevated levels of adrenaline and excitement. The lowering process is necessary and can be a good thing as long as it is expected.

The problem arises when, like an addict, you rely on outside sources to feel alive. When we live for the next weekend, relationship, or promotion, for our kids to grow up or for retirement or any other event, then we rob ourselves of the joy of the ordinary. If we say to ourselves, “I will be happy when…” we have a poor existence depending on outward circumstances for satisfaction. Why not break free from such tiring methods?

I am greatly disturbed when I think that most of the precious few moments of my life could be spent waiting for the next in dismal discontent. That is why it is my quest to embrace the mundane as very beautiful and each day as God-given. Every day is given for a great purpose and how shallow it would be for me to waste it away looking beyond it for something more sparkling and inviting. I, like anyone, enjoy the peaks of life and we were meant to, but we should equally enjoy the hidden treasures of the predictable. God is in the mundane as much as he is in the spectacular and he desires for us to acknowledge his existence there.

There was a seventeenth-century monk named Brother Lawrence whose chief desire was to practice God’s presence in everyday life. Gary Thomas, in his devotional, “Sacred Parenting”, gives a little insight into Brother Lawrence’s life:


Over time “[Brother Lawrence] was more united to God in ordinary activities than when he devoted himself to religious activities. Indeed, he found that “the best way of reaching God was by doing ordinary tasks…entirely for the love of God.” In Brother Lawrence’s mind, prayer was not quantifiably different than peeling potatoes.
Such an attitude infuses the mundane with the profound: “We should not weary of doing little things for the love of God who looks not at the grandeur of these actions but rather at the love with which they are performed.”


In this light, changing diapers and trying to keep up with a 3 year old are transformed into highly important tasks. In this light, I do not have to dread day-to-day tasks. Instead I can wake tomorrow to a gloriously normal day if I choose to make the moments contained within it opportunities to love God. Loving God in ordinary ways can make every predictable day profound and precious.

Would You Rather...?

Anyone who knows me knows that I love games. I have this game called “Would You Rather”. It's a game meant to inspire hilarious conversation. It asks some very thought provoking questions beginning with the phrase “would you rather”. A couple of examples just for fun:

“Would you rather age only from the neck up or age only from the neck down?”

“Would you rather have to spend an entire pro basketball game with your face sticking out of the rim or an entire hockey game with your face sticking out into the middle of the goal net?”

I’d have to choose neck down and basketball game. How about you?

Another question posed under the category which challenges a person’s ethics and intellect (and spirituality whether they admit it or not) reads, “Would you rather be someone who lives by what your newspaper horoscope tells you to do every day or what the person on the psychic hotline tells you daily?” The rules state that you cannot say “neither” or “both”. Both of the two evils offer a very bleak and misguided life, but if I had to choose between them, I suppose I would choose the cheaper of the two – newspaper horoscope. However, I am glad that I do not have to depend on such venues for daily living.

In my reading this week I was reminded that I serve a God who speaks and is willing and ready to give me the direction and insight that I need. To some, the practice of hearing God is questionable, but I believe it is entirely necessary and should be a very normal and constant Christian experience. The Bible is indeed the flawless word of God, but this is in no way a legitimate argument for a currently silent God; it is actually the greatest argument that he speaks because the bible bursts with accounts of God communicating to ordinary people and plenty of evidence that he still desires to make himself real to us by speaking.
Dr. Klaus Bockmuehl says, “Only the pagan idols are mute, and Christians have been liberated from their service. So we have no reason, unless we mean to defy the teaching of Jesus, to turn the Holy Spirit into another mute idol.”

“But our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands they have mouths, but do not speak…” Psalm 115 3-5

“See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks” Hebrews 12:25

“Therefore take heed how you listen…” Luke 8:18

“But the anointing that you have received from Him abides in you…the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and is not a lie…” 1 John 2:27

“…his sheep follow him because they know his voice” John 10:4

Obviously, Scripture holds ultimate authority and the leadings of God’s Spirit are subjective and must be tested, but I believe by properly applying the two the voice of God can become ever increasingly recognizable. This is my desire- to grow in the skill of listening to God and to maintain the ability to hear by obeying.

So, would you rather ignore God and live as though he does not speak or live biblically and seek his input into your life daily? Remember "both" is not an option.

Significant Weakness

A little overwhelmed by and vividly aware of my own inadequacies I write the following to encourage myself:

In Scripture, God purposely exposes the weaknesses of those he used mightily. Through it he teaches us that it is a good thing to be aware of our frailties. We are usually very busy proving to everyone just how competent we are, but since God desires truth in the inner parts we should be careful to gaze into his word and allow him to bring us back from our disillusionment and striving. When we compare ourselves to other people we may or may not measure up, but when we compare ourselves to God we never do. This is the place he desires us to be. When our short comings blind us like one gaping into the sun we tend to cower back until by our own estimation we are approved, but brokenness allows you to judge yourself correctly by what God has revealed and then continue in the grace of God. In the New Testament, Paul encourages us to have this proper view of ourselves:

Romans 12:3
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."

At the heart of the matter we are afraid that our own weaknesses will make us insignificant so we are in a constant state of trying to convince ourselves and others that we are strong. It is a shame that we are so afraid of our own insignificance. It is really a valuable thing. A statement made by Gary Thomas in his book Sacred Parenting has shaken me to the core. He says, "Our so-called search for significance is often a very dangerous attempt to steal some of God's glory. We may make our lust for recognition sound angelic- wrapping our ambition in kingdom-building terms-but at the root it becomes a demonic exercise to use God's gifting in order to make ourselves seem important."

Jesus showed another way. He made himself "less" and became a humble servant. As Messiah, he never sought to bring glory to himself, but to the Father. But God knows our human condition and this is why he allows us to be broken and to experience our own weaknesses; he knows there is great power in embracing them.

God help me not to cower back when my faults are glaring, but to stare them right in the face and call them what they are...opportunities for humility and openings for grace.

1 Corinthians 1:27
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.