God Is In The Ordinary

Posted by Ginger 
 

“Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord.”

         I Corinthians 15:58

It is morning and I’m trying to wake up. I don’t know what lays ahead for today.

It is dark and I am tired. 

I slowly get out of bed…I know one thing for sure, and that is the Lord waits, patiently with His hands extended, a morning hug.

I have to laugh, I have so many little rituals I do first thing in the morning to wake up.  He must laugh at all the little human things we do to gather ourselves.  I’m like a little creature crawling from my hole.

My bones don’t quite work like they used to.   So I hobble from my warm bedroom to our cold kitchen, stepping on a dozen sharp edged toys along the way.  God is good…because the next toy I stepped on was a stuffed animal.  The next toy in this stepping stones of madness either had wheels or wings – I’m not quite sure but it picked up my pace a little.   It was as if God was saying…”I’ll be gentle on you…but hurry up, Pokey.”   God has a great sense of humor.  I giggle my way to the coffee maker. 

I know He is there to greet me, ready to use all of me…which doesn’t feel like much.  It’s like a cruel joke…me, Lord, really?  I don’t even know where I’m going,  I’m tired and achy and all I can see is a pile of dishes from the night before.  And once again, my kids forgot to put out their lunch boxes – and now I’m fifteen minutes behind and annoyed.

I have learned that beginning the day with prayer makes all things go more smoothly. So as I light my first candle…His work unfolds. Not before me (the dishes and toys to be thrown away – I mean picked up) but through me.   Through my surroundings, I am reminded daily that it is not in my completed tasks or a job done well that He works.   Rather, it is through my weaknesses…that He calls me.  It is in my ordinary kitchen, the piles of dishes and the  laundry that never ends …where He finds me.  The whining, the sleepless nights, the unfinished and seemingly meaningless tasks that leave me empty and yes sometimes angry.  My pride yells…I must be made for more than just this!!!! 

Yet He stands at the door of my heart and waits.  He calls me to faithfulness, to patience, to love.  Yes to further receive all of His grace so as to abandon ourselves fully to His will. 

I despise the work in my kitchen…and yes that is what greets me every morning – so I say hello, breathe and reflect on it, create it as holy, someone wise once told me.

As mothers, our lives illustrate, right before our eyes, how He uses the ordinary.  We don’t have to be perfect to be used by God.  Our life to Him is a holy place.  And our children’s lives are holy places too.  So I pray, that just for today, God can use me to draw my children to Him in everything they do – especially in the ordinary.  And I am assured as I close my prayer book, that it is the greatest job I will ever do.  How do I do this?  Help me Lord, not to rush through it, but to live more deeply through it.  And Lord, when I get down on my knees to tie my children’s shoes or kiss a boo boo, help me to remember the sacredness in these ordinary gestures.  To pause, to look up and see in their eyes…not another little whiney kid, but You.

Little is much when God is made present.

So when I woke this morning, did I see His work?  No I saw dirty dishes.  Did I hear His voice? No, I heard the coffee maker.  Did I feel him? No, I felt my achy bones. 

It wasn’t until I sat and remained still for a bit and breathed.  I lit a candle and slowly as I woke.. .I began to feel His strength fill me.

Silent and unseen He comes. His gentle power and His grace so beautiful as it overflows all that is before me.  And I draw close to Him.  His love, His warmth, His mercy. It is then that I know that I am loved. 

Broken and fragile.  He gently heals me.  Day by day, we walk.

A Eucharistic vocation is what I have been told we should live as mothers, as women, …like the bread of life, our Christ, we are broken and shared – poured out for others.

“Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord.”

Photo credit:  Prashanth KS