Sacred in the Mundane — Broken & Hopeful

I need the revelation of the sacred in the mundane, the extraordinary in the everyday and the supernatural in the earthly sameness. I forget so easily, and go about my day with crazy drivers and bickering kids and toilets to clean. Maybe for you it’s the emptiness or sadness or stillness rather than the busy. But regardless, we get lost in the forest of the same everyday scenarios and forget the power of the Life of Christ in the middle of it all.The thing is if Jesus’ Life makes a difference in my life, I will be able to walk in compassion and kindness even for those who don’t deserve it or maybe even desire it. I will see them for who they really are and not miss out on their true personhood while it is swallowed up in the bitter, angry and hateful mess with which they surround themselves. God’s love pushes through that and reaches towards them even when stuck in their mess. I know because He does that with me.The thing is if Jesus’ Life makes a difference in my life, I will worship while performing the menial tasks of life rather than allowing them to become mere trivial acts of drudgery. If even a cup of water given to a person becomes a gift to God, so does my cleaning, laundry, cooking and working all the tasks of life that seem small. I can’t make it beautiful without the Light shining on it to transform it into a work of art. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t love any of these tasks, but I can choose to remember who I’m loving by doing them—my family, my friends, my Jesus. And He can provide all I need to get it done.The thing is if Jesus’ Life makes a difference in my life, even the times of stillness and seeming unproductivity are not meaningless. The quiet does not have to spell out my worth as null and void. In fact, I can instead see my incredible worth as God pulls me away from the noise and activity to be just with Him. The tenderness of that movement towards me is incredible, but I want to identify it with an unloving gesture of limiting what I can do or be based on my actions and achievements.The thing is if Jesus’ Life makes a difference in my life, the people who are closest—kids, spouse, friends, family—are each a part of this masterpiece God is painting in my life. I get to allow each of them and their missteps and hurts to push me back into the arms of Jesus, remembering I don’t get my identity from any of them but from Him alone. And in that place of steadfast faithfulness from Him, I can approach my relationships without needing them to define me, but rather to simply love on them. I can see who they are, not who I think I need them to be. And I don’t have to make them anything. They are just loved as they are.The thing is if Jesus’ Life makes a difference in my life, I can let go of the past and accept forgiveness for all the mistakes I’ve made. He’s forgiven me already, but often I hold onto it like a monk beating himself with reeds until his back is bloody, thinking this will make a change in behavior somehow. I must accept the forgiveness and forgive myself, realizing I was never intended to fight this battle on my own. In my weakness, I find His strength, and in my letting go of the past, I find freedom to live in the present.The thing is if Jesus’ Life makes a difference in my life, I don’t have to live in fear of anything. Not the future. Not the past. Not the mistakes. Not the anxiety that pulls me down into the crazed hamster wheel of trying to control and keep safe. I can unfurl my wings and fly. I can see Him as the One who holds me and makes it all possible. Safe in His Love, I have nothing to fear.I hope that today, you will run back to Jesus with all the drive His love generates, a passionate desperation for the only One who can make a real difference in your life today. And as you see Him in each situation, the current moment would take on the glow of importance and beauty. For this is what He has called you to right now, and He will be faithful to be enough for the calling.The one who calls you by name is trustworthy and will thoroughly complete his work in you.1 Thessalonians 5:24 (The Passion Translation)