The Ordinary and the Extroardinary

Getting away for the holidays was wonderful. First, though, I had to get over the guilt of spending time playing instead of developing curriculum. I guess it runs with the territory of being a first-year teacher.

Vacation at our parents' houses is always a break from news "junkiehood." First we go to my mom's house, who up until this year didn't have a television. Now she has a TV, but no cable, so we were woefully dependent on network TV for our news. I found I'd just as soon do without.

Then we got to my guy's parents' house, where there's cable, but you just find yourself watching less TV after going without at my mom's. So we felt somewhat sheltered from news from around the world.

The Sunday after Christmas, there was a big ice storm in South Carolina. This in a part of the country where a single snowflake has the power to shut down entire school systems. Lest anyone think I'm making fun, remember, I grew up in that part of the country. We kids lived for the single snowflake.

So that Sunday morning we awoke to the sight of glistening twigs, grass blades and clinging leaves seemingly encased in glass. Beautiful. We channel-surfed to find out if there would be church. My mother-in-law was anxious to show off the girls. As she surfed with annoying speed through channel after channel, switching just as I thought we might be getting to the church closings, I caught a breaking news story about a large earthquake in the Indian Ocean--8.0, I think they said. I remember thinking that this was pretty big, but maybe since it was supposedly out at sea, it wouldn't do too much damage to human structures.

At church we played open chimes and did a Christmas service and generally sheltered ourselves from the world around us. At least that's how I remember it when I look back now, because as we contentedly celebrated Jesus' birth, reports were apparently rolling in of tsunami waves fanning out to devastate an entire region, wiping out a third of the people there. It reminded me of the book of Revelation, and how a third of the earth is going to be wiped out. We just got a glimpse of the caliber of event that would kill a third of the earth, and what it would be like to experience it.

The Tuesday after Christmas we went down to Myrtle Beach on a cold, crisp day. The girls frolicked in their heavy coats and we walked along the beach as I imagined the horror of a thirty foot wave driving in from the sea.

So here we are, back from a relaxing vacation, and I'm already sleep-deprived and fighting a head cold. It's three degrees out as I write. But God continues to do new things in my life. Imagine!

Our first Sunday back, the choir director asked if I would sub for her directing choir. After assuring her I had never done such a thing (at least not for adults), I said sure, I would be glad to do my best, for what it was worth. So now she's taken on the task of teaching me choral conducting! It's already helping with the kids at school, and I've led the church choir once so far, and it's an exciting new thing. Who would have guessed such a neat thing would happen to me?

I don't know why I'm sharing all this. The original idea for the blog was to show ordinary Christian ladies finding God in ordinary things. It seems to have evolved into ordinary Christian ladies facing extraordinary things in their lives. A. with her baby. Heiress seeking new ministry opportunities. Jomama will graduate from Bible college soon. Although this is extraordinary in itself, I'll bet it leads to extraordinary things in her life, too.

I guess I'm finding that extraordinary things can happen in anyone's life if she'll let them. But life happens in seasons, and there are times of ordinariness, such as finding God in your garden, and times for the extraordinary. So if you're going to get a full picture of a Christian woman's life, you might as well see it all. Because when God is allowed to be in it all, it's all extraordinary.