I tend to live in the future. I’m always imagining what the next moment, month, or even year could be like. It’s easy for me to see potential in people because I don’t see them as fixed entities, but rather as dynamic, full of potential to change. I tend to see moments not as isolated events, but as part of a bigger picture. This is one of my most pronounced strengths.* Yet, this strength also has a downside—I often do not value the present. My default is to see my present, everyday life as mere happenstance—an inconvenience to be endured on the way to the vision that I see in my head. It’s so difficult for me to see meaning in my everyday life because it feels so . . . ordinary compared to the future I have in mind.
In her book, The Gifts of Imperfection, Brene Brown makes the point that what is ordinary has come to be seen as insignificant. This is what our society has conditioned us to think. Living for the weekend, hating Mondays, constantly desiring to go on vacation, anticipating special events—we are told that our ordinary, everyday lives are just something we get through in order to get to the “real” things, the moments that really matter. Yet, in spite of its popularity, this way of thinking is one of the biggest reasons why so many of us struggle to experience the eternal kind of life Jesus freely offers.
Ordinary
Rather than being meaningless, the ordinary is where God most often meets us. Remember Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches?
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5 ESV
Branches don’t bear fruit in dramatic, one-time fashion. It takes time--a very ordinary, some would say even boring process. Branches just stay in their vine, and eventually they do what branches do--bear fruit.
So it is in our journeys with Jesus. Our ordinary, daily lives are the places where God matures and develops his “eternal kind of life” within us. We allow him to do this by, in relationship with him, shaping our lives around the teachings and example of Jesus. If we will simply trust this process, connecting our natural life to the eternal life source of God himself, we will naturally begin to experience transformation.
Consider this: we worship a God who was willing to be a laborer for several years before he moved into executing his mission through public ministry. Jesus’ everyday life for 30 years would be considered boring, uneventful, and even insignificant by our modern standards. Though we don’t have much historical record of his early life, he likely ran his family’s business, providing for his family as the oldest son. He worked for six days, went to synagogue on Sabbath, spent time with his family, and did it over again. He celebrated holidays, paid taxes, attended weddings—he lived the normal life of a first century Jewish man. Yet, for all of its lack of drama or excitement, his surroundings were no obstacle to him experiencing the “eternal kind of life” or for his formation into who he was going to need to be in order to save the world.** The ordinary was the crucible in which Jesus was formed. Jesus himself was extremely patient with his development process, yet some of us wonder why we haven’t discovered our God-given purpose by 20 years old (me).
Seeing our everyday lives as meaningless leads to a life of frustration. We will live our lives always looking to the horizon, hoping transformation, or at least better quality of our inner lives will come through a silver bullet—an event, a dramatic moment with God, a miracle. Yet, as shown through the example of Jesus, our everyday life and choices are the key to experiencing the quality of life that Jesus offers each one of us. By staying in Jesus—in relationship with him, shaping our lives around his teachings and commands—we will experience true life over time, just like a branch bears fruit when it remains in its vine.
How?
Read Matthew 5 this week. What is one of Jesus’ teachings that you can seek to practice in your daily life? Try it out, making sure you ask for his help through the Holy Spirit.
If you would like to pray or talk with someone, feel free to email me at ianreyes567@gmail.com, or another member of the Canyon Creek Project team at hello@canyoncreekproject.com.
On the journey with you,
-Ian
*My ideas on this strength comes from, StrengthsFinder 2.0, by Tom Rath
**My ideas on Jesus’ everyday life are based on Dallas Willard’s, The Divine Conspiracy, chapter one