Ordinary Days

I remember during a very busy season of my life hearing someone say, “I’m bored!” and wishing I had time to be bored. For the record, I hate being bored.

Many of us have a “first world problem” (as opposed to someone living in a third world country) of possibly despising a simple ordinary day with nothing special happening. We need to appreciate ordinary days. I love simple, ordinary days.

It is wonderful to wake in the morning and have a few minutes to thank God for another day, to give a phrase of worship to Him, pray for my family, and pray for a few folks who I know are not having an ordinary day. Then staggering down the hallway to the smell of fresh brewed coffee, savoring the slow, unhurried sipping of brown liquid gold.

I have learned in these later years of mine to be thankful for ordinary days. My ordinary day did not arrive because I was better, smarter, or more righteous—it was just God’s grace. I too have had days that were not ordinary, when I was pulling into a parking lot with discomfort and uncertainty beyond the double automatic doors. I have learned to be thankful not prideful. I have learned to boil my thankfulness until it is tender compassion, seasoned with intercession for those not having ordinary days.

So, the next time you are bemoaning an ordinary day, just think:

There are no bombs going off in your neighborhood.

You have food enough for at least a week or two.

You are not holding the hand of a parent or spouse who is dying.

You are not in a clinic to get another dose of chemo.

Your child is not in prison.

At the end of the week you will get a paycheck, not a pink slip.

You are not out of your mind with a child or grandchild who has cancer or some other horrible thief of life.

You are not on the street sleeping on cardboard.

You can swallow food and go to the bathroom.

When you die, those last faces you will see are your loved ones and the next face you will see, will be Jesus. 

Thank God for ordinary days.

I just now prayed for everyone who happens to read this, who has not had an ordinary day in some time. I pray for your strength, God’s grace and mercy, and for a return to an ordinary day for you and yours.

If you are having an ordinary day, pour yourself another brew of coffee and drink it slow. Thank Jesus for an ordinary day and say a prayer for those you know, who are wishing and asking God for one.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 NKJV).

Yours on the Journey,

Harry L. Whitt