As I looked across the sea of faces, youth with so much life ahead of them, I found myself welling up with emotion as I offered the concluding paragraph of my prepared remarks:
Most of you will probably live a life like mine: ordinary, devastating, beautiful, somewhat boring.
You’ll likely get some of the things you hope for. You’ll likely be disappointed, disillusioned and hurt at some points.
And you’ll keep going.
You’ll do a lot of sacred ordinary things. And in time, you will realize that the big things are only because of the small things. That who you are goes with you into all things. And who you are in Christ is what matters most.
When invited to shape the annual spiritual renewal week at our local Christian school, I proposed a focus on spiritual practices-- not because I thought any of us needed more to do, nor did I think that the students didn’t already have significant habits of faith. I chose this focus because I have come to recognize how meaningful small things are in our economy of faith, and most of life is made up of small things.
Weaving together scripture, personal stories and practices from centuries of Christian tradition, I was hoping to invite reflection around cultivating a life of faith. (And because so often we teach what we know. We give the advice to others that we most need for ourselves. We preach the message our soul needs to hear… )
I began by sharing a significant personal experience of footwashing, which brought transformation in my own spiritual journey. While I know that experiencing the nudge of the Spirit and the release of forgiveness is no small thing, it was a million small things that had formed me, allowing me to be attentive and responsive to the Spirit in that moment.
While I have participated in the ritual of footwashing more than thirty times in my life, only once (so far) did I have this transcendent moment. But, I never would have had that holy moment, had I not been practicing footwashing, had I not been regularly part of the community of faith.
So many of the most meaningful things in our lives are only accessible to us because we do the work of tending the small, ordinary routine practices that shape our lives in a particular way; hopefully, the way of Christ.
Consider:
What small rituals are you already doing that are grounding and renewing for you?
When have you felt the nearness of God?
How could you cultivate a deeper awareness of the sacred in the ordinary?
A Blessing for the Litany of Small Things
May you be blessed with mustard seeds and yeast--
noticing the miracle of small things
and giving thanks
May you be graced with patience and persistence--
tending to the longings: for more, for success, for significance.
and seeking forgiveness
May you be aware of the sacred in midst of the ordinary--
persisting in the ministry of small things
and finding joy
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