On a recent Saturday morning, one of our daughters was helping out a friend at a farmers' market. The counter in the booth was heavily laden with all manner of luscious baked goods, all of which would rapidly be purchased in just a couple hours.
That particular morning, the special of the day consisted of fragrant loaves of focaccia, one type with potato and thyme, one with fresh tomatoes, and yet another stack with figs and rosemary. Needless to say, the aroma lingered in the marketplace, and no big surprise, the loaves sold out quickly.
My husband and I also just spent the last few days of summer break, helping out with four of our grandkids. To set the stage for the morning, I asked our ten-year -old granddaughter to decide what was today's special, what was her specialty for the day? Use kind words? Get along with the boys? And she and her brothers started reciting (and singing) the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. 22-23: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
We don't have to limit ourselves to just one.
It is not for us to just seek out how to fill the hours before us or how to manage the traffic jam of our responsibilities, but who to be today. On what can we focus as a through line in this day: to be kind, attentive, or perhaps, faithful in the trenches? We cannot forecast what the day may bring, but we can respond with something different.
Not determining what sensational concoction we can make of this mess, but how to bless others and honor God. How to seek out and pursue being joyful or loving in these circumstances, attentive to need, or exercising self-control in this situation. What is my specialty today?
May we go intentionally into the day, ready to pivot around the potholes, be flexible when things don't go as we would want them, creative in the moment, not dwelling on "if I only had this or that," but seizing what we do have to make something beautiful. Even if five barley rolls and two fish are all that occupy our proverbial pantry. John 6. 9
There are no ordinary days -- only if we face them that way. God never intended for us to miss the wonders that He has placed all around us. Or the opportunities. A hard thing may actually be a grace. Choose this day whom you will serve...as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24. 15
What should we intentionally infuse into this day that God has graciously given? Not just what we are going to do, but how we are going to approach and navigate what is before us. God is not going to demand, "Do this, do that," like an impersonal army commander, but asks us intimately, "What do you see? What do you have here?" Mmmmm, I have a lump of dough, a few potatoes and some thyme. Whatever it may be.
Not just choosing Today's Special, but realizing Today Is Special, because God created it.
This is the day which the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118. 24
Now watch how God can use us.
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