Several years ago I visited a church on Pentecost Sunday. At the time, I didn’t even know Pentecost was something celebrated, nor did I realize this church, being an unaffiliated church, would put so much focus on it. Pentecost is typically celebrated on a Sunday 7 weeks after Easter, and in 2012 it will be celebrated on the last Sunday in May.

After the sermon the pastor talked about the importance of Pentecost and its significance in us receiving the Holy Spirit (as talked of in Acts 2). He then, along with another elder, spent several minutes just sitting on the steps of the stage, looking out at the church, waiting for something to happen. He seemed certain God was going to manifest Himself, through His Spirit, in a tangible, physical way.

I wanted to scream, “Pastor, God shows up in the ordinary too!”

Too often we want God to come in these all-powerful, life-altering type of moments. Whether it be a burning bush, tongues of fire, or the parting of major bodies of water, we want our unordinary God to always show up in unordinary ways. And this strong desire for God to show up in those ways puts God in a corner. When He must show up in a way we deem to be “powerful” we’ve limited God to be less than He is. When we only describe His grace as “radical” we’re communicating that His grace never finds us in the ordinary days of life.

It’s not that I don’t think God can and will often show up those extraordinary, there’s-no-way-to-explain-it kind of ways, but it doesn’t replace how His perfect presence shows up in ordinary ways during ordinary moments of life.

Can God show up in the smile on the face of someone you love? I hope so.

We have a weak view of God if we think he only intersects with our lives in extraordinary ways.

We do have an extraordinary God, but He often shows up in our lives in extremely ordinary ways.

The sad part is that we often miss Him.

(Photo: Tori Yonker)

Now I wake up before the sun to spending time reading, praying, and then writing. Just about everyday. I thought I’d hate it, especially needing to go to bed so early, but being intentional about writing has taught me some invaluable lessons.

1. Rarely do I start a day with an amazing idea of what to write about, but it’s still important to do the work. And in life I also rarely start a day knowing that something amazing is ahead, but I would miss out on a lot of amazing parts of life if I decided to clock out early. “Do the work” is a phrase coined most notably by Steven Pressfield in some of his most recent books and it’s one I’ve used to motivate myself a lot.
2. The sunrise is better than the sunset. What I mean by this is that starting off the day focused on working hard and well gives me a bigger sense of purpose to life. Often the people who work the hardest are the ones who get up to start working before everyone else. Starting off the day focused on getting things done sets the tone for the rest of the day.
3. Some days, I don’t have it. Whatever “it” is, some days I simply acquiesce to knowing that tomorrow will be better. In life, these are the days I do my best to make sure I avoid people (it’s what good introverts do).
4. My best moments come in the midst of the mess. Whether it be an “aha” moment when I’m writing something that previously made no sense, or a breakthrough conversation with a friend, or a brief moment of God’s clear voice of leading, I never get to those moments without first making a conscious decision to enter into the fray. Too often we make the choice to stand on the sidelines and it’s often why we never experience the great parts of life.

For those of you who write, what have you learned about yourself or about life?