Transform the Ordinary

May 1

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

Marden's advice may not always seem practical but it certainly does give us a daily dose of inspiration toward achieving the utmost our mind and heart and body and spirit will allow. How can a humble, ordinary day be transformed into something great when at its essence it is just an ordinary day? One thing we can do is to love greatly, for the Word tells us that “Love never fails,” I Corinthians 13:8.

We can begin each and every-same-old-same-old-day with the resolve that each person we greet—from the child awakened from slumber to the disgruntled boss to the harried stranger we pass at the grocery store—will be met with the unadulterated love of Christ in us! No matter how groggy or unresponsive they may be to the 'love bath' we pour over them, we must lavish them in love anyway! His love, poured through us, “covers a multitude of sins,” I Peter 4:8.

We must let our arrival at work be like the 'SON-shine bursting into a dark, overcast, storm-threatening sky, let our presence transform an ordinary, cloud-filled work place into a place where the Lord's love makes a difference in us—and in anyone who is wise enough to allow their gloom to be lifted by His presence within us.

As we interact with other people, either professionally, or socially, or casually, we must let them be bathed in the joy that reflects the One who is the reason for the joy within us. Let them see that, “The joy of the Lord is our strength,” Nehemiah 8:10. They will be aware that our joy does not originate within us or within the advantage of our circumstances.

It comes from our resolve to trust the Lord for what He’s promised! In so doing, we will have transformed an ordinary day with ordinary challenges and responsibilities into a day of extraordinary blessing for every life that touches ours—including our own!