I have found that running hard after an extraordinary life turns out to be chasing a lie. Likewise, I believe that anyone who claims to have found the perfect metaphor or definition to describe God in His entirety has fallen into falsehood.
The realest extraordinary is most often found in the ordinary. The extra everyone’s looking for —- it’s found in ordinary.
I don’t know exactly when I realized that The Big Dipper spills over everyone’s house.
I had to be in a room full of my friends before I realized that sunlight can warm anyone’s back in front of any window.
My feeble attempts at creating something extraordinary with paint fell short as I took a step back and gazed at my sister's masterfully created piece of art. You can't force the extraordinary, but you can live the ordinary with open eyes and an open heart.
And there’s the dog breathing slow in sleep at the back door, and there’s a minute to sit and scratch behind his aging ears, and there are trees all down the open road with limbs reaching, and the gentle breeze tickles my neck, and the rush of the river fills my ears, the ordinary welcoming. I tell my sisters to notice that.
And that it’s a ridiculously free world. Everyone gets to accept the invite to extraordinary or not. It's an invitation.
I tell my sisters that glossy red carpets and stars of fame can lead to nowhere and that the ordinary is the every day container that holds the realest extraordinary. I tell them that there can come a point in pursuit where one loses sight of what, or who, it is they are truly pursuing. Don't lose your focus.
I tell them that everyone single one of us gets eyes to look into, to smile into, to witness glimmers of souls right here.
The ordinary becomes the extraordinary when the eyes see the extra glory here. That’s a life equation, take it or leave it. We could give it to people for free.
There’s nothing in this world that’s normal — there’s only growing blind to the glory.
Do we try too hard to put ourselves into the metaphors that were familiar to the original readers and hearts and pray-ers of the Bible, who saw shepherds, vineyards, and kings on a daily basis?
"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse for not knowing God" (Romans 1:20). I think to my ordinary days, and wonder how often I miss out on the extraordinary life because my narrow mind is trying to pursue the knowledge that was understood before me; instead of being content with the life that I am living and living it attentive to my surroundings.
There’s only wearing armour to shield the heart from the beauty that wounds.
"My attention is often grabbed by images and metaphors that can be found in my daily life -- clothing but not shepherds, fire but not kings" (Winner).
I look at the metaphor of God being my Heavenly Father and my heart cringes. My armour is strong in this facet of my life. Our images of God are the cover of the invitation, and how we perceive this cover to look will greatly affect our decision of whether we will accept or reject the welcome to be in the eye-opening, faith-based pursuit of seeing God's glory around us.
The cynics do that. Thing is, guard your heart long enough with a shield of cynicism and that shield of cynicism becomes a lidded tomb over your heart withering up, numb and dead.
I tell my sisters to be brave and see and feel.
Tell them that our language shapes us, that we keep saying, “I’m stressed…. I’m overwhelmed…. I’m so crazy busy” so we can feel the blood hurtling wild through the veins like some extraordinary important.
But I tell my sisters we’re trading in those worn out phrases: “I’m stressed” —- for “I’m grateful…” and “I’m overwhelmed” — for “I’m wowed.”
And saying the words out loud — “Yeah, I’m wowed… Yeah, I’m grateful” — so that the eyes hear what they could look for right here:
The extra everyone’s looking for —- it’s found in the ordinary. The ordinary becomes the extraordinary when the eyes see the extra glory right here.
My sisters laugh that I’m the fool who wants to write it in red lipstick on every mirror, write it on a sticky note for all the wallets: “We don’t need more things. We need more meaning.”
We don't need more metaphors to unravel the mysteries of God. We need more eye-opening faith to see our already unravelled surroundings.
More ordinary awakenings to the common extraordinary, to the God-glory hidden in plain sight. Take it or leave it.
One of my sisters left strawberry hulls leaking juice across the counter. There’s a candy wrapper on the windowsill. Crisp linen hangs neatly on the line. There are bare feet hanging off the end of the couch. There's a stack of books on the counter.
And there’s a headline for every day — a line to set on replay:
“I’m wowed here. I’m grateful here. The grace is here. The extraordinary is here. God. is. here.”
We don’t need more things. We need more meaning. God. is. here.
The meaning unfolds in the ordinary. Wow. Thank You. Yes.
How will you discover God today?
1. Barker, Kenneth L., Donald W. Burdick, and Kenneth Boa. Zondervan NASB Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1999, Romans 1:20
2. Winner, Lauren F. Wearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015, 14
