Ordinary Moments

I was 16 years old; hauling my dirty clothes to the laundry room, grumbling about it the whole way. That's when my mom stopped me and said,

"Brian, routine is good. Ordinary is good. Life is made up of ordinary and it's in these ordinary moments that we can experience life at its fullest if we just pay attention."

We live in a society where ordinary is not really seen as a good thing; extraordinary is the goal. If we are not intentional, I believe that it would be very easy to spend all of our days striving for the extraordinary at the expense of missing the ordinary. 

I spend lots of time focusing on the next thing, often times hoping that it is anything but ordinary. The next meeting. The next meal. The next date night. The next paycheck. The next kid. The next whatever. I still, at times - 18 years later - get annoyed when I have to spend my time cutting the grass, cleaning the garage, repairing a broken chair or prepping a meeting, driving to an appointment or exercising. All very ordinary, mundane, routine events.  Yet, all opportunities to engage in the moment. All opportunities to experience the fullness and richness and beauty of life if I would simply engage and be present in those everyday, ordinary moments. 

Maybe today would be a good day to practice living and loving in the very ordinary moments. Perhaps, we would experience life differently and more fully if we stopped looking ahead to the next thing and simply enjoyed and experienced the current thing. Maybe today we could experience the beauty and richness of life right where we are.

Ordinary

This week, I had the privilege of sitting down and talking with a very wise, very humble, very experienced older gentleman. Our conversation primarily revolved around some issues and thought processes that I have been having trouble overcoming. During the course of our conversation we began to discuss the original design of man, the fall of man and the subsequent result of the fall on man and man's new found ordinariness.

It seems that we live in a society where the ordinary is despised and the extraordinary is to be sought after at all cost. Let’s face it; no one wants to watch an ordinary guy like me play basketball. Instead we prefer to watch King James as he glides through the air and forcefully slams the ball through the hoop to finish off a mammoth dunk. At the same time, when was the last time you turned on your television on a Sunday afternoon to watch a bunch of cigar smoking, beer drinking guys play a round of 18 holes, hitting rooftops, slicing balls into backyard swimming pools and then hollering like children when they accidentally sink a chip shot for a bogey from 27 feet? No. We turn on our TV’s to watch Tiger Woods eagle a par 4…on purpose. Why? Because he is extraordinary and we like it. The truth is, there is nothing wrong with these guys being extraordinary (in this one area of their life) nor is there anything wrong with us liking these guys. The problem though, is when we begin to believe that being ordinary is to be less than.

This happens to all of us. But particularly for those who choose to be Christ followers in their lives…the idea of being ordinary is more or less…unacceptable. Somehow, along the way through our Christian lives, we have gathered (or been taught) that to be a Christian we must become holy, righteous, like Jesus Himself.

This week, as I spoke with this dear man, he said in a passing statement, “You know Brian; this idea of becoming like Jesus is one of the most fallacious statements that I have ever heard. What a disservice we do to people to tell them that they should become like Jesus.” He continued, by saying, “The best we can do in this ordinary, fleshly body of ours is to invite Jesus in, that He may live His life through us; that He may be holy and righteous; that He may be Jesus, in us.” As human beings, as flesh and blood, we are as ordinary as they come. No amount of prayer, fasting, solitude, silence, worship or any other disciplines can make us less ordinary or more holy. All of these things are good and necessary, but apart from the experience of Jesus Christ’s life giving power and Spirit living through us, they are just exercises in will power which will more than likely leave us exhausted, lonely and hungry.

This week I realized (again) that my being ordinary is just the way Jesus wants it. For if I had the ability to become holy or righteous or like Jesus on my own, then why would I need Him? The truth is, I do need Him and when He shows up and He lives through me…all of those around experience the extraordinary life of Jesus Christ.

In the words of one of the most ordinary Christians in all of history, the ordinary Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…”