Suddenly, I have a grandson who is almost as tall as I am. It happened this winter. After a couple of weeks of quick hellos and brief connections, I finally got a whole day with him and his siblings, and there he was, standing there with his brown eyes looking straight into mine.
His growth spurt happened when I wasn’t looking.
It happens in our hearts as well. During an especially intense season of parenting with lots of sickness, heavy financial pressure, an era of too much to do and not enough of anything, I remember talking to the Lord about something and realizing that I knew he was listening—a knowing that lightened the load. This was new for me at the time, and it grew out of the ordinary soil of life here on the ground. Growth actually happened at a time when I wasn’t looking for it.
The sober truth is that we spend most of our lives in unremarkable tasks and ordinary routines. This was even true of Jesus during the first thirty years of his embodied life. If we’re going to experience growth at all, it’s likely to be in the context of the “Ordinary.” That’s why it’s interesting to me that the church calendar designates two different sections of Ordinary Time: the first between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, and the second between Pentecost and Advent. In other words, most of the calendar year!
We love to celebrate the high points of the liturgical year, but it’s in the mundane passing of weeks and months that habits are formed. We finish a thick book or read through the Minor Prophets by turning a page or two every day. The laundry will eventually find its way up the stairs and into the bureaus—and that sock under the coffee table, too. We plant a few unimpressive seeds in May and reap an unlikely harvest in September.
Sometimes the greatest transformation comes when you’re not looking.
We spend most of our lives in unremarkable tasks and ordinary routines. This was true of Jesus during the first 30 years of his embodied life. If we experience growth at all, it’s likely to be in the context of the “Ordinary.”
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Amy Peeler writes about this with wisdom and clarity. In Ordinary Time: The Season of Growth, she reports, “I have now been trained to see the blessed opportunities for growth in the gift of every normal day. I have learned that this season is not without the excitement of change, but that it is of a different kind, a slow but enduring kind of transformation. That kind of transformation is deeply, if not dramatically, exciting.”
Easter, Pentecost, Advent, and Christmas all have their unique focus, and they carry us forward like beckoning signposts. Then, during Ordinary Time, we are free to lean into the mundane rhythms of growth, to thank God for the promise, mercy, forgiveness, and welcome of the gospel.
In seven chapters, this little book introduces the key motifs of the season and explores several of the biblical readings from this time of the church year. I was especially encouraged by Peeler’s retelling of Abraham’s story in context with the entirety of Scripture. When God tested him, he knew that Abraham’s faith was “not blind; it was based on many miraculous interventions in his life before this moment.” My small response, then, becomes a daily faithfulness, a pressing in to this season of growth, knowing that even in the face of death, God will show up with power and provision.
I was eager to review this book because of the topic, but even more so because, last year, I reviewed Amy Peeler’s commentary on the book of Hebrews and found it absolutely lovely. Curious? CLICK HERE to read that review.
Holding You in the Light,
During Ordinary Time, we are free to lean into the mundane rhythms of growth, to thank God for the promise, mercy, forgiveness, and welcome of the gospel. #ordinarytime @ivpress
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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate, which means that whenever you purchase a book I’ve shared here through the link I provide, I’ll receive a very small commission. It doesn’t cost you more, and I only share books here that I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Many thanks to InterVarsity Press for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.
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Yes! The sum of our lives take place in the ordinary! I love these reflections, Michele. And this book is going on my reading list! I hope the snow is melting in the great north and you’re thinking about gardens on the country hill!
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It’s a great little book. Peeler is a scholar with the gift of communication to the average Christian. And I’m sorry to report that we got another 6 inches of snow last night, so the garden is covered, but I am thinking about my seed order!
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Oh so very true! I love the everyday comparisons you always manage to come up with too which make it so relatable. Even living with boys I feel like their growth spurts often happened overnight! On year Alec grew 6″ and I swear it was all in the fall as all I can remember doing is buying him new pants every couple of weeks when his ankles started peeking out from below the hem.
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I remember that with us it was SHOES! We’d buy new sneakers or cleats, and it seemed as if they shrunk overnight.
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Yes! It really is those ordinary days that shape our lives. I’ve experienced it myself recently, becoming an empty nester. As a stay at home mom for over 20 years, I was a little nervous about what things would look like when I wasn’t managing a house full of kids…and then one day it was there. It had been built day by day, when I wasn’t really looking. Interesting book, I might have to check it out!
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That’s so true! I remember people asking me what in the world I was going to do with myself after raising and homeschooling 4 sons, but I certainly don’t have spare time on my hands these days! As you said, “it had been built day by day.”
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What an encouraging thought–growth is occurring, even when we’re not looking. Hallelujah for Ordinary Time! And thank you, Michele.
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Reading this book has made me eager for Ordinary Time to begin so I can pay attention to the long haul faithfulness the season requires.
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Sometimes I can feel lost when I am in the “ordinary” times when big things are not happening, and it seems just another day has passed without anything significant happenings. Yet, God is working everywhere and in every moment, no matter if it appears like an “ordinary” mudane moment. You’ve reminded me to be intentionally grateful for all that God does, and for all that is His, and that everything.
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I can identify with that. When I have the intentionality of Advent or Lent in my mind, there are practices or special readings (or as a writer and teacher, special content that I want to share) that hold me close to the Truth. We don’t have that in ordinary time, which means we need to find meaning in the routine spiritual practices God has provided as a means of grace. I hate to think of what would happen to my faith if I tried to live on the oxygen of the high points for the whole year!
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