“on a dismal day to find the most dismal and dripping wood…” this seems counter-intuitive to those of us who like to duck our heads and dash between dry, warm places.
It’s been nothing but rain for days. And in the last 24 hours it went from warm and blustery to cold and drippy … creeks are flooding and the sky is grey. On “duck and run” days like this, I like to re-read this quote from Lewis that has helped me develop my perspective on how I see the world – especially on drippy, cold, dreary days.
I pray that God will give me the strength to lift my face, feel the dripping cold glory, and thank God for being so magnificently all that He is! “Jenkins seemed to be able to enjoy everything, even ugliness. I learned from him that we should attempt a total surrender to whatever atmosphere was offering itself at the moment; in a squalid town, seek out those very places where its squalor rose to grimness and almost grandeur, on a dismal day to find the most dismal and dripping wood, on a windy day to seek the windiest ridge. There was not Betjemannic irony about it; only a serious, yet gleeful, determination to rub one’s nose in the very quiddity of each thing, to rejoice in its being (so magnificently) what it was”
That moment that changed your life… what were you doing in that moment? That moment when God came down? When your life was struck by something extraordinary and you were never the same…
Were you in Walmart? At work? Stuck in traffic? Making dinner or doing laundry? Or still waiting for a moment like that to hit, perhaps?
We’re in the season right now where there is alot of talk of Mary. You know, the Mary, who God chose to give birth to His deity… and I wonder: Where was she when it happened? What was she doing? When Gabriel visited and whispered words that changed her life forever. Words that we celebrate 2,000 years later because they also changed our lives forever.
So, I ponder my question. What was she doing to precipitate the visit of an
archangel? No one really knows. There are an awful lot of prettied up
images that seem alot holier than the lives we live. In these pictures Mary
often has a gold orb floating around her head and zero personality on her face… it’s hard to relate.
Maybe it will help if we back up a bit … we know what others were doing when a moment like this hit.
We know Abraham was just sitting … escaping the blazing heat of the sun by sitting in the entrance to his tent (Gen 18:1)
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
We know that Moses was tending sheep for his father-in-law in the desert. Just another day at the office for him. (Exodus 3)
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
We know that Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress – hiding and afraid, but still going about his work (Judges 6)
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
We know that Zechariah was just doing his duties in ministry … nothing out of the ordinary prepared him for the extraordinary that was about to rock his world (Luke 1)
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
We also know that mighty angels visited when Jacob was running away from home, Hagar was about to die of thirst, Lot’s life was in danger, Peter was in prison and Philip was told to go take a walk on a foreign road.
Finally – those famous shepherds on the hills outside Bethlehem… the ones we love to sing about? They were just dirty shepherds of ill repute, putting in another shift, keeping track of their sheep on a night like every other.
So here I am, returning once again to my original question in these days before Christmas: what was Mary doing when the eyes of the Lord found her? We hear that her Joseph was sleeping when the angel appeared to him … Scripture just doesn’t tell us about Mary. But you can see the pattern with me, can’t you? It seems she was most likely doing what she did every day. Living her ordinary life. Only, God didn’t find it so ordinary, and on that particular day, He chose to come down.
We live in a culture consumed by the extraordinary – We laud it on facebook and glamorize it on Instagram. We create dances for it on tik-tok and embed it with gravitas on X. We crave that viral moment that will somehow make our existence extraordinary. And we feel diminished by the “ordinary” of our lives when we see the tantalizing lives of others flashing before our eyes. And we wonder how we can be seen. How we can matter. How our ordinary lives can compete with all this extraordinary.
And young Mary was just going about her day – perhaps doing laundry or making bread. I don’t think there was anything different about that day when she woke up, but that day forever changed everything. The eyes of the LORD saw her. He saw her heart, fully committed to Him. And there, in all that ordinary, He came.
Do not scorn the ordinary, my friend. Do not look down on the insignificant and seemingly unseen. It is in this crucible that the realness of who we are settles in. It is the prayers uttered while up to your elbows scrubbing dishes in the sink or rocking your baby to sleep at 2 in the morning though your eyes refuse to stay open. It is while you are fixing your car or paying your bills. These are the tender places we find Jesus and determine if our hearts will stay fully committed to Him.
And these are the moments when He finds us. When a life can be altered in an instant – and we spend all our ordinary days preparing for it. So do not scorn the ordinary days, my friend. Rather, choose you this day whom you will serve … and serve Him with all your heart. Keep your ear pressed tight against His chest and listen to the thrum of His heartbeat. In all the ordinary, watch for Him and be ready. He’s weaving His story all around you right now, this moment! As His eyes range throughout the earth, what will He see when they land on you?
You may not expect an archangel to visit you in your kitchen or in your car on the way to work – neither did Mary. The truth is, God could send an archangel at any moment into our lives… but He doesn’t need to. Some of His final words to His disciple were this: “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” (John 14:26) And this is the reality that blows my mindand leaves me on my knees in worship!
Moses visited with God in a burning bush – and that same God resides in our hearts today! Abraham shared a meal under a tree with his 3 visitors, and Jesus Himself says to us, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Rev. 3:20) When we are scared like Gideon, doing our mundane work in hiding, we are told, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7) When, like Zechariah, our days are filled with serving others, we get this promise: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Try to wrap your mind around that. The God who created the Universe, wrapping Himself in the temple of our soul. And we think having angel drop by would be something extraordinary.
Just stop! For one minute, just stop the hurry, the bustle, the distractions. Set down your phone, close your eyes, and let this wonder wash over you. Stop chasing the extraordinary and let the woder of this truth sink deep into your soul.
Now open your eyes and look around you. What are you doing … this moment? Do you believe that the Spirit of God is with you – with a power greater than the archangel that visited Mary? Oh follower of Jesus, this is one of the final promises made by Jesus before He returned to heaven! Do you live like you believe it? And if you don’t know Him yet, oh friend – choose Him today! In this season where we celebrate welcoming Him to earth – will you welcome Him into your heart?
It seems the only real response right now is through the words of young Samuel: “speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10)
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
Waiting for a cup of coffee at the hostel I worked at. That was Mark’s routine. Mark, my English friend, who started each day with a cup of coffee – and then went out to busk until he had enough money for his first smoke of the day.
After his smoke break, he would busk again until he could pay for that night’s lodging at our hostel – a little youth hostel on the edge of the light district, where we talked of Jesus and His love with hundreds of travelers from around the world. Some became good friends. Like my friend, Mark.
One day, Mark didn’t make enough money for what he needed that day. So he asked if I would buy his backpack to help cover what he owed.
Mark, where are you now? I used your backpack until I couldn’t any more. It symbolized a wild longing to travel the world, and for a time I needed to stop. The reasons are hard to put in simple words. All I can say right now is that my God knew my heart and He knew I needed to wait.
And so I waited, with your backpack tucked away in my basement. All these years I waited until my heart started to numb a bit.
But then the winds began to stir, and new life began to spring up in a place that had been locked away for so long.
And tomorrow I board a plane to bring me back to a place I thought I may never see again.This time, I have a family with me. An amazing husband and 3 fellow traveler children who are as tall as I am these days.
I bought new bags for each of my family. But I carry your bag, Mark. It is old, and I can still see the remnants of your name scrawled across the top. I carry it for old adventures and new.
“See, I am doing a new thing” He boldly declares. (ISAIAH 43:19) My God is always doing new things in our hearts, but we don’t always see them. Today, I carry your bag,, Mark, and I feel the new thing with every breath. I hardly know how to grasp what it all means, but my God will make it clear.
This story has many tributaries – and it won’t all be told at once. But tomorrow, I carry Mark’s bag, and I remember your laughter and your blue John Lennon glasses. And I smile. and I thank Jesus.
Our God is a consuming fire 