Still, in the Ordinary

I wake up every morning with the sun, and if I am lucky, I wake up two hours ahead of my household. I am gitty really if everyone is fast asleep and I know the house is all mine. I tiptoe quietly downstairs to make the coffee, pick-up my Psalms journal, and begin my day.

I cherish this time because once 6:45 comes around it is off to the races with all of life’s “new” demands. I am Mama, zoom-school facilitator, lunch lady, StoryMaker founder, and wife of a pastor. There are too many hats to even count...so the stillness of the morning however early it comes is my sacred time to remember...

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

At 6:45 my kids are up and I am hurrying them out the door for “P.E.” with dad. This gives me time to make breakfast, set up computers, and layout uniforms (yes...even at home they wear uniforms). 7:15 arrives, kids are home, and breakfast is over in 5 minutes...then we are off again and all I can hope to recall is...”Be still, and know that I am God.”

The day begins and is flooded with Zoom-School and Zoom meetings...I never imagined that computers and technology would be how we do EVERYTHING when I was playing Oregon Trail in the late 80s, but here we are surrounded by stimulation on screens in the middle of a pandemic. (Remember...”Be still, and know that I am God”).

“ God enters the ordinary dysfunction of our world.”

Once the kids are in motion I am off to the races with StoryMakers, creating, managing, and fulfilling orders. This is my play space, the time I can think of how God enters the ordinary dysfunction of our world, the time and place where I get to create. These moments fly by and are constantly interrupted by the people I have been given, the church we love, and all the normal interruptions of life. Mel...don’t forget, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

As the afternoon hits, my body begins to feel the hours it has been awake (5:30 AM), and suddenly I realize I have spent my best creative and productive hours. It is time to rest, be present and remember...”Be still, and know that I am God.” Go make dinner Mel, hug your kids, walk with them...maybe actually play.

I am not an astronaut or a person doing extraordinary things...I am an ordinary woman living in the ordinary times, in the middle of a pandemic, and yet still called to, “Be still, and know that I am God,” for it is in this place that we have hope of remembering to whom we belong and are carried by. When I am able to connect with that reality, I am restored and given small mercies to be kind to my children and those I am surrounded by.

“No longer are we reaching up to be God...but we are recognizing our reality...that we are literally being carried by the ONE who loves us most.”

Over the last six months, which seems to be an EXTRAORDINARY time...pandemic and all, God is calling us to do what He always calls us to do...trust Him and know that He is God. It is in these moments of stillness and surrender that we are restored by God’s grace. No longer are we reaching up to be God...but we are recognizing our reality...that we are literally being carried by the ONE who loves us most.

In these ordinary times...which seem to present life with extraordinary circumstances, rest in knowing that the sun will still come up if it is God’s will, the stars will still shine bright in God’s mercy, and we will wake again knowing to whom we belong and are carried by.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”