First, a note to my readers: Posting in this blog is seldom an end to itself ; the writing that shows up in this space is usually part of a bigger picture that’s playing out in a new book I’m writing, a class I’m teaching, a conference I’m scheduled to speak at, or simply stuff I’m trying to sort out in my own consciousness. Blog readers get to engage with my thinking because I need to hear myself stringing the words together; it has to be articulated in some fashion, said out loud, or worked out “on paper.”
So thanks, you are in a very real sense my sounding board. I’m warming up my writing engine for the day. This is a safe space for me, and – hopefully – a thoughtful place for you.
We don’t preach about ourselves. Instead, we preach about Jesus Christ as Lord, and we describe ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. God said that light should shine out of the darkness. He is the same one who shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay pots so that the awesome power belongs to God and doesn’t come from us. – 2 Corinthians 4:5-7
Living Like We Mean it!
I love to cook (especially in the amazing kitchen Rebekah custom designed, so I could prepare great food for her to enjoy!). But sometimes there’s not a lot of time, and I’m involved in several overlapping projects, and I’m behind in all the deadlines, so I say, “I’ll just throw on a couple of burgers.”
But then I remember that even simple food has the opportunity to either be mundane or exceptional. So I take just a little extra time, and a lot of extra care, and the result is the very best hamburger we’ve had in a long time.
It went that way last week, too, when I said, “I’m just going to make some soup for supper.” But then I found a turkey leg in the freezer and used it to make some stock, which became the foundation for gumbo, involving fresh onions and carrots and celery and garlic and tomatoes and okra, and more vegetables, and then shrimp, and all the turkey that fell off the bone, and an afternoon of simmering, eventually served over rice, with some fresh baked bread.
What I’m thinking about this morning, what I’m “working out” in the context of this post, is the important idea that the small things that fill up so much of our time, the unglamorous routine of getting up, doing household chores, preparing meals, and going to work – our everydayness – always sit on the balance point of ordinary and extraordinary, meaningful and meaningless, life abundant or humdrum, time that is disposable or moments lived to the full.
More relationships are saved via simple day-in, day-out decisions for kindness than the grand gestures of great occasion. More good is done for the Kingdom of God in the consistent witness of regular people practicing grace and peace than the flamboyant theater of the televangelist. More truth is told about the good news of the Gospel through believers engaging the averageness of daily life with above average love….
Fact is, there’s no such thing as ordinary, mundane, throw-away, second-rate, or not-worth-the-trouble when we live as children of God and followers of the living way of Jesus.
Fact is, there’s no such thing as ordinary, mundane, throw-away, second-rate, or not-worth-the-trouble when we live as children of God and followers of the living way of Jesus.
To live “into” the dynamic truth of our salvation is to LIVE with ALL-CAPS and in bold font! If the way that we engage our daily life fails to communicate something invitational about the good news of Jesus, then maybe we need to go back to the beginning, fall on our knees in humility, and invite Jesus to come into our hearts again… like we should every new morning of every new day.
“Here I am, Lord; fill me, and then pour me out again for this world. Amen.”
– DEREK
