Saturday, January 16, 2010

Praise for Extra-Ordinary Time


Joining in Praise with Jennifer at My Chocolate Heart

I love ordinary time. I love routine and repetition. It feels so normal. Normal is good. But sometimes, upon closer inspection those normal and routine events are anything but ordinary. They are the extraordinary signs of the presence of God and for those I give praise.

1.A gentleman holds the church door open for me and greets me with a smile. That gentleman is an 8th grade boy, one of my son’s friends. The rest of his class walked right by me without a glance in my parental direction, but this one boy, he took an extraordinary chance and revealed God’s goodness to me in his act of kindness and for this, I praise God.

2.It’s not news to my regular blog readers that I struggle with depression, it’s an ordinary, seasonal, hormonal part of my life. But when someone new comes along, and spots it in my words just.like.that. and then reaches out with a loving and concerned email, it becomes an extraordinary sign of God’s love. Praise God for Mary P. who responded to my comment on YIM Catholic this week.

3.Daily Mass is an ordinary part of my family’s life, but every once in a while, something extraordinary happens there. This week God showed His sense of humor through my daughter who was full of spirit and life. I praise God for Mary’s bathroom rendition of “I Am Woman-W-O-M-A-N” that brought an extraordinary smile to my face this week!

4.In this week when the world watches the small island of Haiti with broken hearts and whispered prayers, I praise God for all of the extraordinary heroes who are able to lend a hand and come to the aid of all of those who are distraught and suffering. The words of Archbishop Dolan resound in my ears..."Haiti is the broken, bloody body of Christ."

5.And finally, I praise God for this extraordinary song, Beauty Will Rise whose lyrics touched my heart in an extraordinary way and made me think of all of the suffering souls in that poor country. This song was written by Steven Curtis Chapman after the tragic death of his daughter, but the lyrics really apply to the situation in Haiti...

It was the day the world went wrong
I screamed til my voice was gone
And watched through the tears as everything
came crashing down
Slowly panic turns to pain
As we awake to what remains
and sift through the ashes that are left
behind

But buried deep beneath
All our broken dreams
we have this hope:

Out of these ashes... beauty will rise
and we will dance among the ruins
We will see Him with our own eyes
Out of these ashes... beauty will rise
For we know, joy is coming in the morning...
in the morning, beauty will rise

So take another breath for now,
and let the tears come washing down,
and if you can't believe I will believe
for you.


Please God, quickly bring us to the day when beauty will rise from the ashes of Haiti. Until then, we continue to praise You, for without You, we could not take another breath. Amen.

8 comments:

  1. Wow, Anne! I am incredibly touched! Thank you so much! I pray daily that the Lord will use my talents for His purposes. Thank you for letting me know that He has done so again. And thank you for taking my email so well. Sometimes I'm never sure how people will read them. But now I feel as though I've found a new friend, and a friend is always treasured!

    You are obviously a very talented woman. Please keep up the wonderful work! God is using you, too!

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  2. Amazing post! Sometimes the smallest things can be the most powerful :-)

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  3. Thanks Mary, I am so glad to be your friend!

    Jules, I agree, it's the little things isn't it, that all add up to make a big difference in life! Thanks!

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  4. Thanks for sharing PRAISE with us Anne!
    Wow...the Lord is at work with the same themes in the hearts of bloggers this week...that is awesome!

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  5. I love those lyrics! Your Mary singing in the shower made me smile, too :)
    I think Haiti has shocked everyone. They are bombarded by tragedy after tragedy and we must cover them in prayer.

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  6. I agree. The ordinary often contains the most extraordinary things if we pay attention. Have a blessed day!

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  7. God bless you for finding the extraordinary during the "ordinary times". Great perspective.

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  8. Whoa.. Steven Curtis Chapman has a gift. What a way of putting words to painful times. Gotta get that song for sure.

    Thanks for offering praise for ordinary time. You're right that there's something good about ordinary.

    Bless you, Anne!

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