You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Psalm 139:2-3, NIV
Last week, I had one of those days that only God could have crafted. I started the day as I normally do, pressing snooze on my alarm repeatedly until I accepted that I had to start my day. Nothing about the morning indicated that I would have a special day. Nothing on my calendar indicated that God would bring something special into my life. It just started out like any other ordinary day.
The morning half of the workday went by without incidence. Lunchtime was uneventful. Dinner was the same. I went to two evening meetings and things remained stagnant. Then, came the third meeting. Normally, I don’t have much to share at these meetings. I try to sit and learn because I don’t feel like an expert. I don’t have the same level of experience as the other people. I also don’t want to say something stupid; so, I sit and listen. However, this night was different.
At the very end of the meeting, God started tapping on my heart to share something. I wasn’t sure why God needed me to share what I thought was so mundane, but I’ve learned that when God starts speaking to me in a still small voice, the best response is obedience. I shared what God laid on my heart. The conversation continued and I figured that misheard God again.
A few rounds later and someone spoke my name. She thanked me for sharing my comments. They were confirmation of a decision she needed to make. The others chimed in and started sharing their similar stories. By the end of this ordinary meeting, God had given us all a gift. The gift of his presence. We closed out the meeting transformed, not because we attended Sunday worship but because God showed up where we were gathered.
During that meeting, I had received a text message from a friend asking me to call her. It was late after my meeting ended but God pressed me to call. When we spoke, I was so glad I did. She had received some bad information about a mutual friend that led her to believe that our friend had passed. She’d tried getting in touch with our friend to no avail. To get to the bottom of things, we called another friend. After a few minutes of conversation, we realized that it was all a mistake. That our friend was indeed okay. We were just about to call it a night when the third friend said, “Well since we are here, we might as well pray.” At that moment, I felt God smile on me.
Sometimes the pandemic keeps us so isolated from each other, we forget things like praying with each other. We prayed together and I felt like I had just hit the lottery. We ended the call renewed and cared for by God. What started out as a mundane day, ended with an experience of our extraordinary God.
That’s where God meets us most, in the ordinary days and events of our lives. On Sundays, we expect God to show up and show out because we are in the bigness of a worship service. Sometimes, we carry this expectation into our week. When nothing big happens, we might assume that God is not interested in the small stuff. We assume that God is off somewhere else saving lives or performing some other miracle for someone with real problems. We assume that God is not interested in our ordinary and seemingly boring lives.
Yet, God is all about the details. God is always there. We simply need to tune into God’s presence on the commute to work, as we sit at our desk teleworking, during our grocery runs, while we exercise, and even when we brush our teeth. God is there for all of that, waiting for conversation, waiting for us to touch and be touched. We simply need to reach out to God and God will reach back out to us.
Prompt for Thought: One day this week, read and meditate on Psalm 139. For the remainder of the day be intentional about noticing how God shows up in the ordinary places of your life. Spend some time journaling about the ways in which you felt God’s presence.
Prayer for the Journey: Dear God, you have promised that you will never leave nor forsake us. You have promised to always be there, wherever there may be. Help us to be aware of your presence, even during the ordinary times, the mundane times, and the times when nothing seems to be happening. Help us to continuously feel your presence and experience the joy and peace of knowing you more and more each moment of each day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.