I’ve had the hardest time coming up with something to blog about this week, and I just realized it’s because I’m feeling so “blah” about life lately. Things feel hazy and gray, and I float through most of my days, completing my tasks because I have to, not because I want to.
I have so many things to do — school, work, church, small group, meetings — and at times it overwhelms me. There’s a lot to get done, but none of it sounds very fun or exciting. The weather agrees with me; there are hints of spring in the air, but it is not here yet. One day is sunny, the next is gray and dull. The wind sighs wearily, wishing for something exciting along with me. (You guys, aren’t I poetic in my moodiness?)
Seriously, though, things just feel dull. I have completed nearly two years of school, but I have another year to go, and it feels never ending. Many of my friends feel the same way about school or their work lives. Life is predictable and seems to just plod along day by day.
My friend Diana is working on a thesis related to incarnational living, remembering God in each and every aspect of our days. Whether we’re at church singing praises or simply bowed over our laptops writing up expense reports, God is present and involved. I believe that this is true, but sometimes it is hard to remember when things feel mundane. I think this may be part of why God was so adamant throughout Scripture that we remember. Over and over again He tells us to remember the great things He has done — how He brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, how He formed them into a great nation, how He gave them His law, how He exiled them from the land because they forgot, how He cut a new covenant with His blood that was offered to all for salvation. Remember, remember, remember.
At the Ash Wednesday service at our church, my pastor reminded us that when we forget God’s great works it is so much easier to fall into sin. I think it is also easy to become hopeless or bored or complacent. We forget that God is always at work and that He is inviting us to participate in obedience to Him for the sake of His kingdom. When we forget these things, we plod along, bored and unsatisfied and discontent because we are closed off to all that God is doing around us. I forget that each day of Hebrew homework is helping me to understand God’s Word better, that each moment spent in the library is a chance for me to connect with another student. I forget that spring is coming, and right outside my window is a chance to watch as God brings dead things to life.
My friend Kerry posted on my blog today that she has been praying Romans 15:13 for me: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” I love this because it is God who is our hope, and it is through His strength that we can overflow with hope and peace and joy. He is good to us.
So this week as I plod along, I will try to remember. Nothing is mundane; nothing is rote. God is always at work.
