An Ordinary Life
The alarm pings on your cell phone, or your child tugs on your bed sheets. It’s time to get up. There’s food to prepare, clothes to wash, groceries to buy, and more. An ordinary life that can scream, mundane. Or, depending on where you are emotionally, it can scream pointless. Especially when challenges feel overwhelming. Not to delve too deeply into this thought. But I’m convinced that God watches over us in everything we do, from the dishes we stack into our cupboards to the dirty laundry we’ve shoved into the wash machine. He sees. He hears. He cares. “You are valuable,” is stamped all over your day by His thumbprint.
You Are Not Alone
Psalm 139:1-6 “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; you understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether…”
And it came to me with all that is going on that He might even be waiting for us to recognize His loving, watchful eye. A breath, a moment in time is all it takes to say yes. Amen to the Great I AM. Thank you, Jesus. Then… carry on. Open that stinky dishwasher. Shove that nasty item into the laundry. Stack those towels.
But recently, I’ve noticed this painting. Instantly it gelled. I thought about today—the present turbulence, the force of a culture, masqueraded as loving—but underneath is an undertow, a belief system quick to divide and conquer. God warned us this would happen. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20 NASB 1995
Caught in the Storm: Painting Courtesy of Ineke VandenBos
I force myself to take a step back and pray.
We Need Jesus
With all the dynamics we have to navigate, our ordinary life has become extraordinary. There’s a call. Or maybe, more, a cry. Families, be anchored. “But as they were sailing along He (Jesus) fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger.” Luke 8:23 NASB.
Out of fear, they woke Jesus. We can easily relate.
Our boat is tossing. How do we manage to keep upright with such a force? Especially when there’s more going on, like illness, the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship, anxiety over the future. Quickly, fear can strike our mind and hearts.
Reading further, we learn, Jesus commanded the waves to stop. “And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm.” Luke 8:24b NASB.
We Have an Anchor
Suddenly, our ordinary life transforms when we see the one who is with us. Jesus. His sweet presence, full of power and strength, is our anchor.
Praising God today that Jesus, the second person of the trinity, the only begotten Son of God, who became flesh, is my anchor in the storm. And He can be your anchor in the storm.
A hymn to keep my heart steady:
More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now thee alone I seek, give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be:
More love, Oh Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
—Elizabeth P. Prentiss (1856),
Blessings,
Johanna
Peace Be Still: Painting Courtesy of Ineke VandenBos
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