In Praise of the Ordinary

 

So far this week we have prayerfully pondered 2023 in review, the highlight and lowlight reel of the story of your life.  Yesterday, I encouraged you to pray your holy laments from last year, naming and noticing the woundedness where you need the balm of Gilead to meet you in the ache.  Today, I want to invite you to hold the beautiful ordinariness of life.  If we are not awake and aware, we can run the risk of going on autopilot in life.  This is found in the cliché of, “The days are long, but the years are short.”  Time is not neutral.  There is a weight to certain days, especially when we are grieving.  There is a lightness to other days when laughter comes easily.  Then there are days when nothing remarkable happened.  We don’t remember the taste of the meal or what we did because our calendar didn’t have any event listed.  We must have done something that September day, right?  But not every day is a mountain or a valley, there are days and weeks and sometimes months when the road is flat and minutes tick past.  Here is my prayer for the beautiful ordinariness of life.

God of bowls of oatmeal we eat as we scan the paper,

God of shopping trips and doctor’s appointments that blur into each other,

God of days when we sit and look out the window doing nothing in particular; not pondering any philosophical query,

There are moments when it feels like we are trying to chase or capture the wind.

Life flows like a river from day-to-day.

Here we are on the third day of this New Year.

We start to think about taking down the tree, packing up Christmas for another year.

We look at the dishes to be done or the laundry to be folded.

Help us realize that You hold our beautiful ordinary life each day this year.

Help us sense You in the suds of the dish soap.

Help us notice You in the vacuuming of tinsel from our carpet.

Help open us to You as we make our sandwich, slowly savoring the peanut butter.

When the wind knocks on our windows, may we open the door to Your spirit.

When we trudge out to the mailbox, help us listen to the song of the birds and wave our hand back at the palm trees.

When we turn on the news, sit with us amid all that we hear and see and the emotions the words provoke and evoke.

We need You, O God, every hour.  Not just in the good and bad and ugly, but right now in this hour as I read this prayer.  Let Your love enfold and hold, let Your grace guide, and let Your wisdom help me know the next right step as I move deeper into this New Year.  In the name of the One who is Emmanuel, God with us here and now on this Wednesday.  Amen.