Extraordinary Grace

Yesterday we had a fill in pastor and in her sermon she talked a whole lot about Elijah. She spoke about his struggles and the darkness, the deep piercing darkness he experienced and how he looked to his journey up Mount Sinai to bring him a great sign of God. To bring him a great indication that God was there, that he hadn't abandoned him. You see, that was the place that God was known to do great things and so there was perhaps an expectation of sorts that God would show his greatness again to him in that place, too.

But the thing is as we listen to the story, what we find out is that the place that God actually meets Elijah, the place he makes his greatness known, is in the ordinary. A great wind comes but God is not in it. The earth shakes in an earthquake and God is not in that either. And then fire. Again, no God. But finally comes silence. And just as it seems that God isn't there- that there is nothing- there God comes. Is. And Elijah realizes the places God had been. How He had been with him all along. How he had cared for him. Walked with him. Heard him and his pleas. And mostly it wasn't in extraordinary places, but in ordinary ones.

Today I found grace not in the extraordinary, but the ordinary. I found God and was led towards grace at the times I least expected to be. And they weren't in huge, incredible ways but in ways that allowed God to whisper "Do you feel me? I am here."

Today I found grace when I allowed myself to share a bit more about me and my story at an appointment and in doing so, was met with an opportunity to take part in and attend a group that will likely be most helpful to me. Today I found grace when a friend offered up time to spend with me and for her daughter to watch my kids for free so she and I could go walking and then she wanted to buy me a drink. I said yes even though such a gift is often hard for me to receive. I encountered grace while walking with said friend as we passed by a community garden and there, towering high was a single, beautiful sunflower, highlighted by the sun setting behind it, just standing there in all it's glory. So simple and yet stunning. It wasn't a part of a group or supported in it's unproportioned, top heavy height. It simply was there, standing tall on it's own, seemingly held up by the glory of the sun behind it. Grace. And then there was grace in the yellow swallowtail butterfly that danced around me before taking it's place high above in a tree.

Grace was in the stillness of the river and the sun setting behind it. The sun seemed to be tucking the river in to bed for the night, pushing at it's seams on the horizon as it dipped down below.

Grace was in allowing my friend to stay for an extra while after getting back to my place instead of pushing her to go.

Perhaps these things, in their ordinary, make them seem small. But for me these ordinary today became extraordinary. And for that I am very grateful. And that then is the theme of my day four: Extraordinary grace.