Ordinary Days??

On Monday night, Danny and I watched a Hallmark movie,(highly recommended,might I add?) entitled Magic In Ordinary Days and I knew as I watched that the subject of this next blog would be centered around that title and message that the young lady, Olivia, learned during the course of that movie.  My heart was challenged and I pray that yours will be too as we mull over the question- are there really any ordinary days or are we just missing the highlights of every day because we have bought into the "mundane Mondays" theory? If "this is the day which the LORD hath made..." can any day really be ordinary?

Surely you know where I am going with this. We all have heard the phrase-"take time to stop and smell the roses", right? Children teach us much about this concept. My sweet mother used to remind me, as a young mother myself, "Deborah, there is nothing quite like waking up in the morning to the sound of children who have had a good night's rest and seeing the "let's go get em'" robust spring in their steps."There were times that I wondered, with one eye opened and trying to get the coffee started if maybe she had missed it on this one but actually, she had not. They don't wake up to ordinary days! There are new areas of the house and yard to be explored, the butterflies need chasing, the caterpillars need touching and maybe tasted,:( many questions to be asked and answered today like "Who made God, Daddy?", "How far is Heaven, Mommie?", "Why do cats meow but pigs oink, Nana?", What makes the tires on the van go round and round, PaPa?" You who have raised children are smiling, aren't you? They haven't lost the wonder and that is one reason that little people refresh my being. Simple things excite them. Both of my little ones get a kick out of stirring and taste testing my sweet tea. And yes, there is a mess to be cleaned up as Landon helps but I enjoy the simple pleasure of wiping the sticky tea off the floor and  when it's Alicia's turn, she now wants to hear a story about Grandanny, she especially likes the one when he was deep-sea fishing and the storm arose. Now, I really love using that teachable moment to tell her about our ALMIGHTY GOD!

Now, we adults may argue that they don't have the tremendous responsibilities and pressures that we, as their parents have. And , yes, that is true because bills have to be paid and houses must be cleaned so we can't splash in mud puddles in our best clothes every day. (I still see Mark in his Sunday best sitting right in the middle of one , quite pleased with himself). But, on the other hand, we have a Heavenly Father Who loves and provides for us (Luke 11:11-13) and yes, I believe, also gives us the simple pleasures of life to enjoy yet we are letting them bypass us when we are anxious and afraid. Children in a loving home have it made (although as they approach teen years, they think not) simply because all that is required is to trust and obey their much wiser and much more experienced parents. Daddy and Momma will take care of the rest. Likewise, we, as God's children through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, are exhorted to do the same thing, trust and obey and leave the "driving to Him!" I like that slogan (is it Avis?) because we are on a journey and our GREAT GOD is in charge- He started it- He will sustain it- and He will pull us into our desired haven. We will reach our destination so let's enjoy the journey.

On this day, tousle some little heads, laugh with some children, answer with wisdom some of their questions, tell someone you love them, take a walk and drink in God's handiwork, sing a praise song to your King, show Christ's love to a suffering fellow pilgrim, listen to the birds singing at sunrise- the Bible says God sees them too. At 5:30 this morning, they were already in tune at my window, singing I think, "all is well."  Go have lunch with a friend, enjoy a slice of watermelon or cantaloupe. If you really feel adventuresome, go get a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut. Yummo, my mouth waters as I write! :)

Now, lest any think I'm teaching a nonchalant, sit around the pool drinking iced tea lifestyle, that is not the point of my writing today. There is a day approaching that we are to be aware of and be found busy for our Lord when that day comes. I simply point out today, that even that truth from His Word, the truth of His return,(and many of us believe it to be soon), further reiterates that there are no ordinary days but rather, days filled with opportunities to make much of Jesus and to enjoy all the good gifts that are ours because of Him!

I have heard this question posed before and many are uncomfortable with it but I don't know why Christians would be. If you knew that your allotted time on this stage of life was up tonight at midnight, what would you do this day? And from that question, then I heard the admonition "Go do it!" Why? Because none of us know if we may leave this earth today, either by Christ's return or because our heart will beat its last time today.  Would you hug a little longer, would you love a little deeper, would you use the words that you have left in a 24-hr period to glorify God and encourage people (few of us would gossip, I think, because we wouldn't want to waste what breath we have left), would you let some bitterness fly away, what would you do? What would I do?

Let me close with a solemn story that occurred one day last week while I sat in an ordinary truck (just kidding, Dan) in an ordinary grocery store parking lot waiting on my loving, serving husband to buy some blueberries for our ordinary pancakes on a seemingly ordinary day. Across the street, I noticed the funeral directors getting the cars lined up, the people dressed in their best arriving and hugging as they exited their cars and then disappearing from my view as they entered the Bearden Funeral Home. I remembered reading the day before online of Tristan, a 14-yr. old Dawsonville boy being killed in a car crash in Henry County and now his parents, grandparents, and sisters were preparing to say their final good-byes here. I sat there and prayed for comfort for that family and friends. I prayed, "Lord, thank You for "ordinary days" like I am having today because they can change so quickly. (James 4:14-15). I know because I have started off with pretty typical days before and before the evening, life-changing events had occured. Lord, thank You that on those extraordinary ones, as this family across the street are experiencing, such like I have never seen, not burying a child, but Lord, thank You that for those days, there is an EXTRAORDINARY AND SUPERNATURAL GRACE that sees us through. Oh, Father, that they may experience that today!"

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it." Let's do that today, will we?   "So teach us to number our days, Lord, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Amen.

Looking up, Deborah