When Ordinary is Perfectly Extraordinary…

English: The Fairy of Eagle Nebula. Français : La Fée de la Nébuleuse de l’Aigle (Eagle Nebula). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is an innate human sense to be needed. We long to serve, care and love others. Our worth, although it shouldn’t be, is often times measure by who needs us and how much. When we put our value in the hands of other equally fallen human beings we run the risk of unwanted hurt.  We have all experienced this…being the one who is needed and the one needing. I really think it is

perfectly human…but not of God. He wants us to love each other and care for each other and encourage each other, but He commands us to depend fully on Him for our value and worth.

Our value is in Christ alone. His precious blood gives us life eternal.

I am learning to seek Him for approval. I am learning to seek Him for comfort and grace. I am learning to seek Him when I am vulnerable and my tendencies are to seek strength elsewhere. I am learning that in Christ alone I am free.

My plate, or rather my platter, has been heaping with activity. I have been over-wrought with doing and being and tasking. I have sought value in the doing. I have lost sight, unfortunately, of my worth in the Lord. I have begun measuring my worth by how I am doing, how I make other’s feel and how well I am performing. This is so wrong. My life is not a ledger of ‘to-dos’. My life is a song to the Lord. For a moment I forgot the Words.

When we forget our value in Christ we tend to put our value in things that don’t exist. We begin to build scenarios and story lines that take us out of our ordinary. But, our ordinary, when we really survey it, is extraordinary and exactly what the Lord has planned for us. He makes all things good… including our day ins and outs. Our perfectly God-ordered lives are designed to refine and grow us in Him. He gives us gifts of grace and mercy…such undeserving grace and mercy.

So, as I survey my perfectly ordinary life of a mother and a wife and a friend, I see extraordinary gifts of majestic God moments. I see a husband who is Godly and unconditional in his love, his provision and his encouragement. I see two children who strive to seek the Lord in all they do. They want to please and serve and love.  I see Him filling me with the Fruit of the Spirit. He gives me gifts of Joy and Peace and Patience and Love and Goodness and Kindness. He encourages me to be Faithful in His Word and Works. He gives me extra measures of Self-Control when I am devoid. He is abundant in my ordinary. And yet, when I try to make my life different and extraordinary from what He has planned, from His path, I lose sight of Him. I depend on me and those who I seek value from. And when I repent of my fantastical ‘what if’ life, I am covered in His grace and mercy and my everyday life seems brighter and more beautiful than any fantasy life I could ever dream up!

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