Written by Ordinary Extra – June 5, 2023. Monday Mundane.
Monday morning, the rain fell softly and quietly in its overcast scene. The wet gray scene did not inspire anyone in our home to rise, shine, and hit the ground running.
Yes, the kids did scamper down to the bus just in time. Yes, my wife was working from home again this week. I had a home day and I was as motivated as a pile of wet sand.
Eventually, sluggishly, I worked up the will and desire to get some things done. There was nothing glamorous or life altering about this work. I worked out in the woods, clearing brush and deadfall, all on the side of a hill that varied in steepness. Talk about Monday mundane, this was definitely earthly work.
Although, once I got into a rhythm, and sweat lept from my brow, my heart rate was up, but my mind slowed down and I settled into a much better mindset. My eyes opened and I saw the countless variations of the color green. I noticed more closely the contours of the various bark patterns on the different trees. There was a patch of blue sky, a small patch, but blue, that I could see by tracing the line of a birch trunk with my eyes toward the sky.
The brook is near where I was cutting away brush and deadfall in the woods. As the day wore on and the sun popped through as it set, it lit this otherwise dark corridor.
The brook babbled whether I heard it or not. Now I heard it. Perhaps the worst weather of the day was in my head, and that fog slowly lifted. I thought better thoughts. Even heavenly thoughts. I thought a lot about my brother and my Dad, both in heaven before their time (according to our timetables). But God’s timing is perfect, so I just remember. Part of me can’t wait to see them again. Yet, there is much still to do.
“Jesus said, “You’re tied down to the mundane; I’m in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I’m living on other terms.” – John 8:23 (MSG)
So my, Monday Mundane definitely started on an earthly trajectory, but through some good heart pumping, sweat inducing effort to get a job done my trajectory changed dramatically. And it also promised a great night’s sleep. Just some ordinary extra along the way.
We live in an age where comparisons are being made 24/7 whether we know it or not. Social media, TV, Internet ads, and many more outlets bombard us all with image. Image as in, this is how the perfect product, or the perfect moment, or even any product in the perfect setting, can make life, well, pretty near perfect.
You know what I am talking about. Pictures of how awesome other people’s life is, at least that is how it is made to look. At some level we all get caught up in the “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality. And we think out loud or to ourselves, “Well, my yard, my vacation, my this, or our that doesn’t like nearly as good as theirs”.
So, I am here to spread some ordinary extra moments. These are things that happen in an average day in my little world. Some might resonate, some may not. But the point is, be happy and thankful for what you do have. And sometimes that might just be the ability to think, to breathe, to work, to love, to feel, and so on. There is beauty all around us.
Just an ordinary day with an ordinary extra moment, or two, mixed in.
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