“Ordinary” Days
Recently I was asked whether I had written any blog posts lately. As I thought about it, I realized that I haven’t. I guess I thought that talking about everyday life was rather uninteresting to most people. What does a 62-year-old grandmother have to say that’s very interesting to anyone outside of my family and friends?
December is usually a pretty busy month for everyone, and our family was no exception. Visiting Disney World with some of our children was a highlight and celebrating Christmas with family is a special time. Being able to sing this year was such a huge blessing since last year I was still trying to regain the use of my surgically-altered tongue. Though it will likely never feel “normal” to me, I am assured often that I am completely understandable, and that if people didn’t know I had had the cancer operation, they would never know anything was different. I am SO grateful that God has healed my tongue and enabled me to praise Him with my voice again!
Since the first of the year, my primary occupation has been researching and gathering information for a kitchen remodeling project. Doesn’t that sound like a glorious way to spend my waking hours?? Although I am excited about the finished product, I am less than excited about the process of living through the demolition and rebuilding of the kitchen. It’s not like we’re never in our kitchen, right ?? Measuring, diagramming, researching all the components that will make up the space has occupied most of my time since January 2. I will be relieved when we make our final decisions and start the actual work, I think…of course, that will mean that we have to empty the kitchen completely, finding things that have been hiding for 30+ years.
Renovating a kitchen is a far different occupation than fighting cancer, and I’m very grateful that I am NOT currently dealing with any active cancer or Crohn’s Disease. My body seems to be having a “rest period” right now, something for which I’m very thankful! Fighting physical illness is exhausting and God has graciously allowed me to have some rest from the fight. We as humans NEED periods of “ordinary life” so that when the challenges come, we have physical, emotional, and spiritual resources upon which to draw. Someone once expressed it as “hurricane preparation”, doing the building up work when you’re NOT in the middle of a storm that will enable you to be ready when the storms hit.
As I thought about the life of Jesus recently, it occurred to me that we heard about Him at birth, then again when He was 12, and when He began His earthly ministry at about age 30. The vast majority of His life was spent in obscurity, “ordinary days”, learning all the things boys needed to know, playing with friends, learning how to be a carpenter (since that was His earthly father’s trade), caring for His mother and brothers and sisters as the oldest Son. Yet God, in His infinite wisdom, had His Son grow up as an ordinary man with many routine and ordinary days. Each one was necessary to prepare Him for what would become the most important event of all of human history, His crucifixion and resurrection, which made the way for the human race to be right with their Creator.
If the Son of God went through many ordinary days on earth, should we expect anything different? The same God who ordered Jesus’ days orders ours as well. Our ordinary days are always useful in allowing us to “rest” and prepare us for whatever the next challenge is that will enter our lives. “Thank You, Lord, for allowing us those ordinary days!”
Faith Through the Journey 