The Holy Ordinary (5th Sunday of Lent)

I have spent the past few weeks trying to create a space to hear from God, praying for an extraordinary move of the Spirit in my life. Instead, I have been besieged and overwhelmed with the most ordinary of tasks: dinner to prepare for my family; homework to check; papers to grade; and bills to pay. And these ordinary tasks must be done after the most lowly of tasks: cleaning the bathrooms; taking out the trash; mopping the kitchen floor; and filing this year's tax return.

Lately, I have been so inundated with work and chores and errands, that I haven't had time to think big thoughts and dream big dreams. How would I ever have my "road to Damascus" experience when my mornings were spent writing recommendation letters; my afternoons were devoted to checking long-division problems; and my evenings were spent preparing to do the same thing all over again the next day? I pleaded with God for a supernatural expression of God's presence. God told me to find the holy in the ordinary.

Now, when I do laundry, I take the time to hold a tiny sweatshirt to my face; smelling the fragrance of the fabric softener and reflecting on the little one who loves to wear her favorite sweatshirt every week. As I mop the kitchen floor, I smile at the thought that if I dropped a cookie, my floors would be literally clean enough to eat off. As I take the car to get an oil change, I take delight in how few miles I've driven and how I'm reducing my carbon footprint. To pay bills reflects the fact that there is money in the bank; to write recommendation letters ensures that future generations will continue important scholarly work; to pray with a student means that I am consistent in my witness. These are the ordinary tasks of my life. And they are all holy.

This Lenten journey has helped me to reflect on the fact that the sacred is not always found in the church building and the holy is not always experienced in worship. By purposefully setting my heart and mind to recognize God's presence in ordinary things, I am feeling and experiencing God's presence in powerful ways. What an amazing God, who is "here with us" in the ordinary and in the lowly.