The Ordinary rather than Extraordinary

I was driving up I-25 today and was hit with a medley of profound thoughts as to what God has been leading me and teaching me as of late…

I am so used to the extraordinary. My life has been full of it in many different aspects. I’ve been reminded so much of something John said to me at the end of the summer in that I expect the extraordinary out of every moment when some moments are just meant to be ordinary. And it’s so true. I could get into some examples of that, but I won’t tonight.

With that, I think I have been focused on reaching the ends of the earth before fully reaching my Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. And part of that has been for a purpose. I believe over the last quarter God opened my eyes to what it looks like to go to the ends of the earth and did a heck of a lot of character refinement in me in order to bring me to the end of myself and to a point in which I willingly say “yes” to whatever God has in it. I needed to learn what it looks like to be willing to forsake all comfort purely for the sake of the Gospel and serving my Lord simply out of the overflow of my heart’s love for Him. I needed to learn what His exclamation of “if You love me, You will obey my commands” truly looks like.

But as of late, I find a new question God is asking me, and that is am I willing to serve Him in the ordinary? I’ve been learning so much about this over break especially in serving my family in the little things. It is something I struggle a lot in as I am so independent and want to do my own thing, but I prayed last week that God would give me a servant’s heart towards my family. It has been one of the sweetest things…my brother has been in and out of the hospital with bad kidney stones and in the midst of holidays, there was certainly a lot to do. And at times I wondered what the purpose of it was.

I was reading the last chapter of The Pursuit of God and Tozer talks about how we so often separate the spiritual from the secular when it should not be so. He talks of how things should all be spiritual, as we can glorify God in everything we do, even the most common of things. Certainly there are things in life that are more important than others and that should be taken into consideration, but if we drive ourselves to divide spiritual from secular, we miss the point. I’ve been so thankful for this chapter and book over the last 3 months as God has spoken largely through it…

And with the serving my family thing, I realized that the best thing I could be doing this week was baking the cookies for my mom, wrapping the presents under the tree, cleaning the house, picking up my aunt, all of those little things that I always used to pass over. I didn’t realize how much of a blessing it was to her until God broke me of my selfish nature and poured through me allowing me to do such things. The ordinary has so much to teach me…so much…

I’ve always been the one doing the latest and greatest thing, and I think it’s become something that I have come to expect of myself and others expect of me. However, this should not be. The only expectation I should have is to simply follow the Lord and allow Him to lead as He wishes. And I think it’s an interesting time the Lord is bringing me into, and that is simply being in the ordinary. That means doing something most people will probably not quite understand, while others will understand greatly. That means that instead of going abroad to serve the Lord sometime in the next year, I may perhaps be going home to CO and simply being there. That’s the ordinary, not the extraordinary…but that doesn’t mean something is to be overlooked…

See, God is doing a great work in my heart in breaking it for my family. As my brother was in immense pain Sunday night, I was with him and stroked his head in an attempt to calm him down, and my heart broke for him for the first time. For the first time I saw him through God’s eyes and not my own. God is so gracious to allow us the opportunity to begin a relationship that we have never had before. I feel such a strong pull towards my dad, and I know God is doing a revolutionary work in his heart, which is far too complicated to explain here. I see my mom’s curiosity and growth in the Lord which needs someone to walk alongside in. And I see myself and how for the first time I feel a strong pull towards my family instead of away from it in my independent nature. I simply broke in this as I was driving in Denver today, and realized it’s a change only God can do…I realized that there is a role in my family that God has placed me in that only I can fulfill. And perhaps it’s time to accept the common thing and walk into it.

John was showing me the back of his new book today and it mentioned something that stood out to me tremendously, as I know I do this. It spoke of something to the effect that in our worship of God we completely neglect those around us. It’s like our worship to God and focus on Him becomes an excuse not to open our eyes to our surroundings. It’s so true, and I’m thankful God’s opened my eyes to this.

I say this all tonight not as a declaration of what God is going to do and how He is going to lead, for I do not know such things. I say this as an observation of what God has done and perhaps where He may be leading based on Scripture and what He’s done in my heart. The only declaration I dare make is that God is on the move, and His spirit will blow in the direction He chooses, regardless of whether I know it or not. What is required of me is a willing obedience to do whatever it is He has.

And for me at least in this time, it’s to do the common thing. It’s to live in the ordinary rather than the extraordinary.