Ordinary Days

In the Christmas story, as told by the Gospel of Luke, we learn of shepherds who were in the fields watching over their sheep at night when angelic messengers informed them of Jesus’s birth. When the workday began for them, I doubt any of them imagined that the day would turn out the way it did. Most of us don’t go about our daily activities, thinking today might be the day of a divine interruption. We tend to focus on the tasks at hand and not what God might be up to.

However, it just seems that God has a way of stepping into ordinary days and transforming them into something extraordinary. God is always working behind the scenes to bring about His will and purposes for our lives and our world. While we are caught up in the rhythms of day to day life, God is actively seeking to create in our lives extraordinary moments where we experience God in surprising ways. God is always stepping into our lives to awaken us to His presence.

We might not experience an angelic encounter as the shepherds did, but God makes himself known to us every day in various ways. We might encounter God in the smile of a child, the hearty laugh of a friend, a falling tear of someone we love, the orange sky of a sunrise, the melody of a song, or a silent night of contemplative thought. God is always reaching out to us to make Himself known with a message of good news, just as God did with the shepherds.

The challenge for us is, will we take time to notice these divine interruptions? The shepherds paid attention. They left the fields and their sheep and traveled to Bethlehem to see what the angels had told them about. They would not let this moment pass them by. They would extraordinarily experience God’s presence. We, too, can experience God in meaningful ways when we receive His divine interruptions with open hearts and lives. When we open ourselves up to God’s revelations, then our lives will be changed, renewed, and recreated. These shepherds would never be the same again. So, let us pay attention to those moments when God has something to share with us, and when we do, we will never be the same.