Today Is Not Just An Ordinary Day

He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’”
~ Luke 16:30-31

Yes, we often wish for something dramatic to happen in our lives before we start living. We wish we would have a Damascus experience before we  begin our life project. We wish for a cannonball to hit our leg before we set out for our mission. We wish to see the transfiguration before we follow Jesus. We wish for someone to come back from the dead to tell us that there is life everlasting. Yes, we often wait for something awesome to happen before we do something awesome in our lives.

And awesome happens everyday. We are just too blind or too callous to see it. Isn’t it awesome that the sun rose up again this morning? Just to be alive and here is a miracle. It is so awesome, I dare not ask anything more of life. Isn’t is awesome that two young persons would scale the mountain just to declare their love for each other? In a world gone mad with hatred and anger, it is awesome that people still fall in love and give themselves so totally to others.

And what awesome things can we do? Go out and change the world? Invent and discover the next big thing? Mobilize people and government to fight pollution and reverse climate change? There are awesome things to do in our everyday ordinary lives. Feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. Anything and anyone who preserves life is awesome. Clothe the naked and welcome the stranger. Anyone and anything that makes this world even just a little bit better is awesome. Visit the sick, those in prison, or those who are lonely. Nothing is more awesome than keeping company with those who have no one.

The grandeur of the universe began with the first big bang of a primeval atom. The awesomeness of the mountains can be broken down into small pebbles. The might of the storm comes from the fluttering of butterfly wings. And the gentle breeze, it is that augurs every morning. So, why can’t we see the awesomeness of it all in the ordinary events and the mundane things of our lives?

“Lord, you gave me another wonderful day of life. Let me see all the blessings that you have sent me with this day.”