We can celebrate what others consider mundane and ordinary because it's miraculous. After all, it's God-given.
We are creatures of habit. We find comfort in well-established routines. Our daily habits give us a sense of control in an often unpredictable world. We are committed to our routines because we believe that they are the means to personal and professional success. On the other hand, for other people, their habits and routines spin a web that they can't escape. For some, their routines fill them with dread.
It's easy to fall into habits that make our daily life monotonous and boring. In our attempts to control life, we can strip people and things of their novelty. Why burn out on the excitement, why put ourselves in danger, when we can live a safe life and eventually fade away?
But maybe there is another way forward. As children of God, we are called to live in Christ. In fact, as the apostle writes: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).
God's baptismal grace puts us on a path that is full of danger, uncertainty, and risk. But not because we choose it for ourselves. Instead, in Christ, we are promised that: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18).
The path we are on as Christians is "the Way." Early on, before Christians were called Christians at the church in Antioch, they were referred to as "The Way" (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). This is a reference to Jesus, who says of himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." (John 14:6)
Therefore, our life is a capital "L" Life and our path is a capital "W" way because we are in Christ, through faith. We are children of God. As children of God, we are called to be child-like in our relation to the heavenly Father and the world. We are set free from the chains of sin and death to see the world with child-like wonder and curiosity.
Now, in Christ, we welcome the dawning of each new day as an adventure. A day that is full of danger, uncertainty, and risk because of original sin, but also a day of grace and mercy because our Lord and God have overcome sin on the cross. Each day, our Lord calls us out of bed to discover what new person or thing he's going to introduce to today. In the world, God sets us loose like children set free to play, to discover, to revel in his creation goodness.
While people cling to habits that give them a sense of control or dread having to suffer through another day of monotony, Christians celebrate the riches and mysteries of God's creation and Christ's kingdom that's come among us in simple earthly words, water, bread and wine for our salvation.
Jesus is our liberator from the tedium of habits and routines. Now they're not something that gives us a sense of control and purpose. Instead, they are our opportunity to dance and play in our vocations. We can celebrate what others consider mundane and ordinary because it's miraculous. After all, it's God-given.
As Christians, we are set free through God's grace in Christ to live boldly, joyfully, and laugh out loud, so that we may find comfort in our well-established routines trusting that in and through them our heavenly Father is at work preparing us (and others) for life and life-everlasting.
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