Day by day, day by day
Oh, dear Lord, three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly, day by day…

FRIDAY: Earlier this week I wrote about Ordinary Time, and the importance of cultivating a sense of “normalcy” after a long season of celebration such as Thanksgiving-Christmas; most of the thoughts I shared had to do with productivity and work.

But the idea applies to every aspect of our lives, and today I’m thinking about how the extent to which we celebrate the everyday impacts our quality of life across the board. In fact, the big moments are bigger when the small moments are done right.

BEGINNING: Here are a few photographs from an ordinary day. It begins – as always – in the kitchen, light pouring in through the big windows and coffee brewing in the corner. By breakfast the sun cuts cleanly across the counter, bringing out the greens hidden in the black granite (see picture gallery below).

Whenever possible, Rebekah and I do breakfast slowly; we finish up by reading our daily devotion, and that tends to lead into more deep conversation. It’s nice to launch our day by sharing scripture, and prayer, and letting things of faith seep into our consciousness.

After breakfast, on this day, we enjoyed a half-hour exploring one of my Christmas gifts; it was a cook-book I had given to her with the following inscription: Every week during 2015, pick out any recipe that appeals to you. I will research the techniques, I will prepare the meal, and we will enjoy feasting together.

REFRESH: Friday is typically Rebekah’s day off, but we both worked some during the morning. After lunch we headed out to Joyner Park for a walk with Scoutie. It was a beautiful North Carolina winter’s day, sunshine and a high in the low forties.

We walked, enjoying the fresh air and the beauty of the outdoors; Scout was ecstatic to be hiking with both of her favorite people at the same time; we saw some photogenic views; we returned home.

After another pot of tea – probably our fourth of the day – Rebekah put away some of the last remnants of Christmas and I went outside to deal with the latest influx of pine-straw. When I returned she was multi-tasking: attending to some preacher work on-line while watching the PBS series, “Sacred Journeys.”

OUR JOURNEY: And that was when I remembered how important the mundane is to my own journey, our journey, our sacred journey. Every day a pilgrimage of sorts, steps of normalcy along the road less often travelled by; talking along the way, stopping once in a while to pray, sharing the amazing beauty that is each step; each moment, each incremental footfall along the way.

So I celebrated by making my classic and delicious (and very ordinary) “Daddy-Burger” meal. But – in honor of what I had been learning, I dressed it up with bacon. Oh yes.

But that’s what I’m talking about; nothing spectacular, not much in the way of bling, all very ordinary. This is where we live, and this is where God purposes to meet us along the way.

Peace and promise – DEREK