Thursday

I am a big fan of schedules and rhythm and routine.  I tend to get up at the same time, have the same cereal for breakfast, get to work by the same time, and end my day with reading.  Some might call these mundane moments, "Boring".  There is a point to that.  But I also think that having some touchstones of normalcy in an ever changing world and a rapid transitioning time can be a God send.  Because I don't know what kind of news will break my heart today; because I don't know what kind of tragedy might come knocking through a phone call/hospital visit/or meeting; because I don't know where the twists and turns might suddenly appear in the journey of this day...these normal (albeit boring) moments hold a deep sense of God's grace for me.  There is a Spirit that stirs when I wake up and start with exercise, feeling my muscles engage and body move.  There is a Spirit that swirls as I slowly eat my granola.  There is a Spirit as I breathe in and out slowly at the traffic light on my way to work.  There is a Spirit that has sustained and strengthened me every hour when I lay my head down on the pillow.  There can also be a wonder in the ordinariness of life.  The wonder when I finish a run or taste the sweetness of the blueberries on my cereal or writing a sermon or being with my family as night has fallen.

The wonder of a thousand forget-able Thursdays, a poet once said.  So much of life can be lived backwards...regrets about the past or unable to let go of what someone said or what I did or not processing the pain.  How many times do people numb the pain of the past through addictions today?  We don't coup well or cooperate well with our lives.  But there is also the fear of the future.  I've noticed this the past few weeks when I wake up already feeling behind.  Feeling like there is more on my to-list than I can get done.  Feeling like the demands are sitting on my shoulders screaming, "Not going to get everything finished, are you?"  On top of that, as a wise author pointed out, is the fear of missing out.  That while I am tending to a meeting or a visit, I am missing out on my kid's summer which is fading quickly or their childhood or time with my beautiful wife.  When I say, "Yes" to one thing, I say, "No" to a thousand other possibilities.  Hard to plan the day...I can get caught in analysis paralysis pretty quickly.  

Schedule might just help me have some sense of control in the uncontrollable world unfolding around us.  It might be my clinging or it could be a trace of God's grace making a regularly scheduled appearance.  Because the point isn't whether the schedule is good or bad, the point is how am I receiving that present moment?  Am I really open to the beauty of this day God has made?  Am I really open to giving thanks to farmers and cereal makers who sponsor my breakfast?  Am I really open to the blessing of my car getting me from Point A to B?  The thousands of beautiful, wonderful, Spirit swirling moments we miss because we get frustrated that we missed the light or forgot something.  Where we focus determines so much of our lives and so much of our lives, we haven't learned the best ways to focus!

Meditation, contemplation, breathing, calming our monkey minds, singing, just being...we need that kind of Sabbath every day.  I see Sunday morning worship not just as a practice for one day, but for every day.  What if each morning you started your day by singing?  What if you began by praying for the brokenness and blessedness?  What if you listened for God because prayer doesn't change God, prayer changes us?  What if you closed that time by saying, let this worship lead me every hour this day?

So may the traces of God's grace be found in both the ordinary/mundane moments as well as the challenging/unexpectedness of this day.  After all...it is Friday eve.

Blessings ~~