The Joy of an Ordinary Day
How I love life!
The raw rays of sunshine that creep into my windows and gently nudge me awake are the first gift of a new day. It is a fierce sunshine that defiantly foils the ability of the window shades to prevent its cheerful entrance.
I love those early moments of a day so fresh from heaven when everything and anything is a rare possibility!
As I convince my 60-something year old body to crawl out of its warm cocoon, I wonder what God will do in me and through me that bright new day. What a delight to dream about the plans that He has created just for me!
And then … there is coffee!! Who can start a day without a cup of dark-roasted, milk-lightened caffeine?! “Heaven in a Cup” is what I have affectionately dubbed it! Whew … it’s good stuff to get one’s body and soul in motion on a day that is filled with the promises of God!
Sometimes I think that I could just live off of coffee and sunshine! It’s a winning team every day of the calendar year.
But what comes next in my early morning routine trumps all other human delights.
It is the joy of all joys and the peace that passes understanding.
The ambrosia that captivates me and calls me by my name is a delectation too delicious not to share with you! It is infinitely better than coffee or earthly sunshine!
It is the time that I willfully spend lingering in the Word of God.
How I love my Bible!
I hunker down in the early morning hours, before the rest of the world has awakened, to hear from God, the Creator of the universe.
Imagine that! God wants to talk to me! It’s an incredible invitation, isn’t it?! Who would ever refuse this sweet request?
“The Father requests the honor of your presence at the start of each day!”
As I open the sacred pages that have brought such wisdom and joy to me over the course of my life, I begin to weep.
He cares for me.
He talks to me.
He is interested in me.
He has thoughts that He longs to share with me.
The innocent and pristine morning moments, with my Bible open at my desk, are among the most valuable moments of every day.
I am the treasure chest and He is the pearl of great price!
I am the empty one and He is the Fulfiller.
I am the student and He is the Teacher.
I am the disciple and He is the Discipler.
It is the decision to accept the invitation into His presence that gives me the strength that I will need for all of the challenges that are lurking in the life that I love so dearly. I have been endowed with power from on high and there is nothing too difficult for the Christ that lives victoriously in me!
Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
Christ in me the hope of glory!
I am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me!
He will always lead me in triumph in Christ Jesus.
How would I know those eternal truths if I didn’t open my Bible?! How would I ever be able to carry on unless I had His strength to carry me?
Life is a vacuum of shrill demands, unending stress and perpetual pain unless you have Him to deliver joy to your spiritual mailbox each day!
Delivering joy to an ordinary day is what He does best!
After reading His sweet words, I think that it is time for another cup of morning coffee so off I go to the kitchen to fix a cup of that which wakes me up. It is a cup that overflows with patience, straight thinking and energy!
After throwing in a load of laundry, smiling at my husband and wiping the kitchen counter, I go back to His presence and begin to pray.
I listen and He talks.
I talk and He listens.
I worship and He smiles.
I ask and He understands.
I beg and He holds me.
Prayer is the rigorous and strenuous work of my day. Some people dig ditches, some people teach little minds, some folks deliver mail … I pray.
“The effective prayer of a righteous person can accomplish much.” – James 5:15
Can you even believe it?! My fervent prayers get the job done! The work to which I have been assigned is a mountain-moving, Red Sea-parting, storm-calming, death-raising, Satan-scaring, bread-multiplying assignment!
Wow! And I got the job! No wonder I love this life so much!
But now the time has come! This is the moment for which I have been created!
The morning has evolved into a glorious day filled with rare and precious possibilities.
The joy of living is found in simply taking Jesus to my world. The eternal delight that is sandwiched between demands and stress is tasted when a common man or an ordinary woman decides to be Jesus to the world.
When others are impatient … I am called to remain patient and forgiving.
When people gossip and complain … I am challenged to smile and encourage.
When the economy crumbles and the nation is divided … I decide to trust God and to offer His presence, which is an olive branch like no other.
When people are sick … I choose to pray.
When friends are in lack … I am invited to give!
No wonder I love life so much! Life, at its very core, is the call to be like Jesus.
Life holds the constant satisfaction of discovering the joy in an ordinary and uneventful day.
No day is ever to be wasted in discouragement or in disappointment. There is a world out there that needs what only you can give!
There is an entire culture that is void of purpose, of hope and of strength … the culture in which you live needs the Jesus that lives in you!
So go discover the joy! And while you’re at it … invite a friend to coffee!!
Thanks for listening to my heart this week. As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me. And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!
