everyday, ordinary life

Earlier today, I found this poem by Judith Viorst – one I’ve used several times in posts.  She writes in one stanza …

I’ll have no trumpets, triumphs, trails of glory.
It seems the woman I’ve turned out to be
Is not the heroine of some grand story.
But I have learned to find the poetry
In what my hands can touch, my eyes can see.
The pleasures of an ordinary life.

Today I celebrate ordinary life and seek to hear the music and rhythm of poetry in my day …

“Gratefulness and simple living go hand in hand. When we are grateful, we appreciate life’s free gifts: friendship and solitude; movement and rest; Nature’s bounty and her spare winter introversion; our own alternating sonata movements of joy, sorrow, and joy’s resurgence. Through this appreciation, we find contentment.”

Unknown

from the rich fragrance of coffee
the comfort of well-worn clothing
quiet reading of books on my nightstand
the fellowship of friends talking together about scripture
painting eggs, playing Legos with kids
camaraderie and relaxation with the love of my life …

“In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”

Bonhoeffer

We live in the ordinary, the typical daily events of life. Once done, it’s done without the opportunity to edit, re-do, or polish. Our lives are rough drafts.  With that in mind, we need to recognize God in the ordinariness of life because otherwise, we will miss him. Ordinary moments are rich with the divine.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Romans 12:1 MSG

Today I do just that … here is my everyday, ordinary life … take it, use it … use me!

Prayer for My Ordinary Day

Lord!
Give me courage and love to
Open the door and constrain You to enter,
Whatever the disguise You come in,
Even before I fully recognize my guest.  
Come in! Enter my small life!  
Lay Your sacred hands on all the
Common things and small interests of that life
And bless and change them.
Transfigure my small resources,
Make them sacred.  
And in them give me your very self.  
Amen
[prayer by Evelyn Underhill]