Ordinary Delights
Agnieszka Tennant wrote in the recent Christianity Today (March 2007) the following words…
“Momentous thrills – a wedding day, a birth of a child, reconciliation between hardened enemies, and a stunning answer to prayer when you are low on hope – point to God more noticeably. So do tragedies, mistakes, and sins. But I’m talking about delights that we encounter more frequently, those we have at our disposal and to which we have become accustomed – the terrain, the minor, the normal, the everyday, the routine, even boring. They, too, reside in the realm of providence.”
As I sort through what she has said in her short article entitled “Ordinary Delights” (as part of Taste and See – P76) inspired me to think this through.
I have been watching each day for another beautiful experience that God places near me – the moon, the sun, the squirrels and just every one of the ordinary happenings around me. I love the humour that I see in nature and the little world around me. But there is more… according to Agnieszka Tennant… there is wonder in the very ordinary.
I gave my grand daughter a hug and she smelled so good. Her hair had a sweet smell to it. As I hugged her, her cool arms went around me and she hugged me in return. There is nothing more satisfying than a grand daughter hugging you.
Her cousins came by as well. This hot little fellow had sweat running down the nap of his neck… he had been wrestling with his brother – and he was HOT. He looked up at me and said so sweetly, “Hi grandpa, are you and grandma staying here to tonight?” I answered, “No..” and his reply was “Awe – why not?” His voice said he cared. Ordinary but amazing.
A few years ago it was simply amazing to hold them as little babies, now they are responding as little people with strong feelings about things and me. Ordinary – but I don’t want to miss it for a moment. A time will come soon enough when I will not see them so much or maybe I will not be able to respond as well. That will be ordinary as well but will block some of this special world around me now.
I am sorting through this thinking now as I said. I want to see the world around me in a new way.
Tomorrow I will head to my home city, Regina, for a last time. I will be helping my mother move to Ontario. It is a strain to take part in this move – because the ordinary that I grew up with will be no more. I will not likely be back again. But even these feelings are amazing all over again. For my mom it is even greater – this could be the last time she sees the prairie in this life time. This move is major for her… but she is ready to come here.
I discovered an ordinary creature in our bathroom – the ‘daddy long legs’ spider was on the foot stool the kids climb on to use the sink. He had built a small nest in the stool.
Another spider found a corner in the one room to suspend his new web works. It seems that this time of year that we are not alone in our home. Ordinary but amazing.
This week I want to see what God sees in my little world. I want to come closer and slower in my world. I want to see the wonders of a small world around me. I want to fill my life with Ordinary Delights and with the praise of God in my life. I want back the Wow Factor that has been there – but some times gets blown away in the rush to survive.
What will you discover today? What has your world in it that will raise your spirits? God is reaching out to us – every moment. WOW!
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
“Momentous thrills – a wedding day, a birth of a child, reconciliation between hardened enemies, and a stunning answer to prayer when you are low on hope – point to God more noticeably. So do tragedies, mistakes, and sins. But I’m talking about delights that we encounter more frequently, those we have at our disposal and to which we have become accustomed – the terrain, the minor, the normal, the everyday, the routine, even boring. They, too, reside in the realm of providence.”
As I sort through what she has said in her short article entitled “Ordinary Delights” (as part of Taste and See – P76) inspired me to think this through.
I have been watching each day for another beautiful experience that God places near me – the moon, the sun, the squirrels and just every one of the ordinary happenings around me. I love the humour that I see in nature and the little world around me. But there is more… according to Agnieszka Tennant… there is wonder in the very ordinary.
I gave my grand daughter a hug and she smelled so good. Her hair had a sweet smell to it. As I hugged her, her cool arms went around me and she hugged me in return. There is nothing more satisfying than a grand daughter hugging you.
Her cousins came by as well. This hot little fellow had sweat running down the nap of his neck… he had been wrestling with his brother – and he was HOT. He looked up at me and said so sweetly, “Hi grandpa, are you and grandma staying here to tonight?” I answered, “No..” and his reply was “Awe – why not?” His voice said he cared. Ordinary but amazing.
A few years ago it was simply amazing to hold them as little babies, now they are responding as little people with strong feelings about things and me. Ordinary – but I don’t want to miss it for a moment. A time will come soon enough when I will not see them so much or maybe I will not be able to respond as well. That will be ordinary as well but will block some of this special world around me now.
I am sorting through this thinking now as I said. I want to see the world around me in a new way.
Tomorrow I will head to my home city, Regina, for a last time. I will be helping my mother move to Ontario. It is a strain to take part in this move – because the ordinary that I grew up with will be no more. I will not likely be back again. But even these feelings are amazing all over again. For my mom it is even greater – this could be the last time she sees the prairie in this life time. This move is major for her… but she is ready to come here.
I discovered an ordinary creature in our bathroom – the ‘daddy long legs’ spider was on the foot stool the kids climb on to use the sink. He had built a small nest in the stool.
Another spider found a corner in the one room to suspend his new web works. It seems that this time of year that we are not alone in our home. Ordinary but amazing.This week I want to see what God sees in my little world. I want to come closer and slower in my world. I want to see the wonders of a small world around me. I want to fill my life with Ordinary Delights and with the praise of God in my life. I want back the Wow Factor that has been there – but some times gets blown away in the rush to survive.
What will you discover today? What has your world in it that will raise your spirits? God is reaching out to us – every moment. WOW!
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Sunday, March 11, 2007
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