Suzi Pitts

Scripture: 

Ephesians 2:8-9 Amplified

8 For it is by grace, God’s remarkable compassion and favor, drawing you to Christ, that you have been saved, actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life, through faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves, not through your own effort, but it is the undeserved, gracious gift of God; 9 not as a result of your works nor your attempts to keep the Law, so that no one will be able to boast or take credit in any way for his salvation.

                                                                               

Reflection:

I love the white altar cloth, pulpit and lectern drape and pastors’ stoles- for us church folk “the paraments.” The white ones feel like a celebration; the Resurrection, weddings, celebrations of life. I like the red paraments too. They look passionate and call me to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. I like the royal purple cloth of Lent, as ever closer the King approaches Jerusalem. And the blue ones of Advent? They tell me Christmas is coming and it’s time to prepare my heart. And yes, even the black cloth we see on Good Friday- the stark reality of the sacrifice of the crucifixion. The white, the red, the purple, the blue and the black all stand for Really. Big. Things. But the green of “Ordinary Time”? That’s the in-between time that we live in most of the time. I don’t love it. It’s just not that special. It’s just there until the Next. Big. Thing.

 

I want to do extraordinary things for God. Really. Big. Things. I want God’s face to light up when God sees my work, because I really want God to love me and be his favorite. I want God to be so glad that I entered this great drama of life because of the Really Big Things that I do. But the rub is that I mostly do lots of ordinary things; behind the scenes things. God must be so much more pleased with the Tim Kellers, Christine Caines, Billy Grahams, Martin Luther Kings or Mother Teresas of the world. Next to the saints who do Really Big Things, I am definitely ordinary green.

 

But here’s what God sees. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God sees one who tries her best to do, like St. Therese, “little things with great love.” God sees one who may never make the front page of the newspaper but tries to love her neighbor well and grow in compassion investing in leaders and those on the edges. He sees a wife who’s crazy about her husband, and a mom and grandmother who is fierce for her babies. God sees my efforts, but that’s not why God loves me. God sees a daughter worth his son dying for just because I’m God’s.

 

So, am I saying that I don’t have to strive to earn God’s love? That my desire for doing Really Big Things isn’t really for God after all? When I think about it, this quest is probably more for me. God calls me to live as his daughter in ordinary green days. Simply and completely stated in Micah 6:8:

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you except to be just, and to love and to diligently practice kindness and compassion, and to walk humbly with your God, setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness.

 

I am grateful for ordinary green today.

 

Prayer: 

Father God, How can I thank you enough for loving us just as we are- your children? Thank you for the call to do little things with great love. Remind me when I forget that the Really Big Things are yours. Thank you that you gave me this ordinary green life. I’m so grateful that I don’t have to earn your love. I love you back. Amen