For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure… – 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

Ob-la-di, ob-la-da:

So today, after a week of epic posts covering deep topics, I have a simple series of photos illustrating just how good life is in the day-to day.

Walking Scout labradoodle, gardening, cooking a simple meal, enjoying the neighborhood.

My friend Jeff based his Lenten meditation yesterday on the “treasure in a clay jar” passage from Corinthians, and his good words reminded me that this was exactly how I introduced the content to my first book (GET REAL: a spiritual journey for men).

The idea, essentially, is that no-one is called to blaze through life in a constantly spectacular fashion. Fact is, even people who are featured in sensational adventure stories live run-of-the-mill lives 99.9% of the time.

What we are given – what we are entrusted with – is this experience of routine, the expected; of going to work, and raising children, and being committed to a faith community, and getting sick, and repairing homes, and enjoying relationships, and walking the dog, and hanging out with the people we love….

Our ordinariness, however, is where God wants to meet us every day. Our day-to-day life, the unremarkable and the run-of-the-mill, is where God purposes to shine. Our clay jar is where God intends to plant the light of Christ.

So here’s what went down over the past 24 hours or so. Nothing spectacular, but everything faithful.

Life Goes on…

• I made hamburgers for supper, but I jazzed it up with Havarti, honey, and Chardonnay, and we enjoyed sitting out on the deck on a beautiful spring day.
• I helped Rebekah with some gardening. The sense of new life is strong around here, and we were captured by the spirit of regeneration in the smell of freshly turned earth.
• I walked our neighborhood with Scout labradoodle, taking in deep breaths of the fresh air and feeling thankful all the way to my toes.
• I made an amazing, from scratch lasagna for Mandy, our director of food ministries at WFPC. It’s Mandy’s birthday today and Rebekah wanted someone to treat her with the love and hard work she always puts into other people’s food.
• I did my extreme cooking next door, as the power company decided today was the day to fix our electricity.

CLAY JARS: Regular, day-in, day-out stuff. This is where we find ourselves, and this is the exact venue where God meets us.

My question, then – and mostly for myself – is this: Does my normal, regular, unspectacular routine day reflect the light and the life that makes it obvious that my clay jar is loaded with Jesus?

Does my life tell the truth about the Good News? Does my run-of-the-mill still point the way to the God?

Can anyone tell that “we now have this light shining in our hearts…”?

(gallery – just regular stuff:)