Ive been thinking a lot lately about ordinary days. You know the ones, you go about your daily routine (mine always involves coffee) and nothing fancy or big happens, just a day of ordinary living.
I have this image in my head that makes me teary every time I think of it. It was months ago and we were all sitting at our dinner table, including our dear friend Matt, and we were all laughing. I cant remember the reason, I just remember our faces, all of us belly laughing and gasping for air. In that space of time, love and pure joy swirled around the room. It was just an ordinary day.
This is what I believe about ordinary days: They are extraordinary. They are beautiful and treasures. Ordinary living is extraordinary living. Just ask someone who is fighting for his or her good health or someone who is getting ready to declare bankruptcy or has a sick child. Listen to a person who is experiencing an ugly divorce or a woman who has been hit by here husband. Underneath all the details, fight and hurt, its just a normal, ordinary life they hope for. What we all really want is a day of easy breathing, good friends, a maybe a hot, lovely meal. So many of us have extraordinary, but still search for more. Why is that?
I think the push for wanting more can be a lot of things, feeling self worth, power, control, and success. It can also be Gods call on your life to do what He has placed in your life to do; we are all so very different. How do you know whats pushing you? Is it selfishness & discontentment or the call on your life? I think there are indicators that tell us which one it is. If your work gets more of you than your family and your kids are surprised you make it to a school function, if you have the need for new things continually, if you cant maintain friendships, if you constantly compare yourself to others, all signs of discontentment and being pushed by the wrong things. If you work on a team, lean on others, eat supper with your family (a few times a week), accept & work through change, listen to the advise & teaching of a trusted friend, all triggers that you are on a good path.
Im not ignoring the fact that sometimes sacrifices have to be made to get a family out of a deep place financially, spiritually or emotionally. All of us have made poor decisions and been faced with consequences that have kept us from our kids games or caused us to work overtime. But I will say this, once you work your way out of that hole, set some boundaries. Refinance your mortgage, get into a faith journey, or go to a professional counselor. Unless changes are made to behaviors and habits we all have, we will continue making poor choices if we have done so in the past. Its just a fact: If you do what youve always done, youll get what youve always got.
In the shadow of college visits, the new adventure of Jr. High and a dusty-concrete-working husband, I am surrounded by beautiful ordinary days. I welcome them, I wrap my arms around them and hug tight because soon these boys will be men and I will linger on the memories of our extraordinary days.
Stik a Fork into laughing til it hurts, contentment and extraordinary living.
