Are You Ordinary?

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

“Do not ask your children
To strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
But it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
And the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples, and pears.
Show them how to cry,
When pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
In the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
― William Martin

My grandmother died many years ago, but she still influences me every day.  Her name was June. She was the most loving, intelligent, and forgiving person I knew. She’s been gone for over 30 years, and yet I think of her every day with some wistfulness. She was what the world would call ordinary.

Baseball was her game of choice, cardplaying with grandpa and her friends, and the best homemade pies (still haven’t accomplished this). Staying overnight with her was a treat! Smelling the line-dried sheets on the vast bed, pancakes in the morning, games, and stories about her childhood during the Great Depression were mesmerizing. Her mother owned a small grocery store because she was raising two girls alone. How brave!  Sometimes her stories made me laugh, like her story about ice skating to school and how she met my grandfather at a farm auction. He noticed the kitten around her neck and said he wished he were the kitten. Her great uncle was wounded fighting for the Yankees during the Civil War.  He was an ambulance driver. I was amazed that he returned home at all.

She gave great hugs, warm, big, reassuring. Ordinary.

Musings

Throughout the day, throughout my life, and when boredom comes, when I’m alone and feel nothing I do matters, nothing makes a difference, I think of my grandmother. What a legacy she truly left me! She taught me love. Ordinary? Perhaps to the world. Then I remember all the ordinary things Jesus used to teach, encourage, and do. He encouraged our faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed, and encouraged us to be salt and light. He was and is bread broken for us, living water so we won’t ever thirst. Ordinary. A legacy of love and grace for all.

Prayer

Father,

You bless the ordinary now and in heaven. We don’t see it, or feel it, sometimes. We forget that “a cup of cold water only” makes a difference. We forget we’re children of the Highest.  Please help us to do the next right thing, the ordinary, especially when weary or discouraged.

And thank you for the ordinary.

Amen.