The common made holy

This phrase has been haunting me for weeks now.  I think of my redemption.  Myself common among all people but made holy not by anything I have done or ever could do or be but only because it is what the Universe Creator calls me through the blood stains of His Son.  The thought stuns me.


   I feel in this phrase the calling, haunting, lingering, pulling me into the same process by which I am called holy.  That I have been gifted to also call things holy.  This moment, while typing, I get a text that my father, ill with an incurable disease is in the ER fighting for his breath and fevered.  I long to sit at his side, to do something and yet many miles of separation make this impossible.  But I set this moment aside I call it holy as I lift him before a Father in whom his very life is bound up and held.  This Spirit who breathes and man takes on form and oxygen fills lungs and wholeness is in this Word made flesh.  And he dwelt among us and dwells in us and I cry out to the One who Sees (Genesis 16:1  She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”)  that He might move in compassion and speak that Word of life to restore and completely heal this one that I love.
     Other moments made holy: It's 9pm and my body is spent after a long day of feeding baby, cleaning house, schooling children, breathing, working, breathing, and the chicken bones I had boiling in the crockpot all day are still in their broth - not deboned, calling from the corner of the kitchen to be taken care of before my body falls hard and heavy into bed.  I wanted to complain, to complete the task letting my husband and anyone else who cared to listen, how miserable I was but then this phrase came hauntingly back, as if on the unseen wafts of rich brothy scent: the common made holy.  I had a choice to live in the common. Cast my pearls before swine, bury my head in slop.  OR, I could set this moment aside as sacred through gratitude, through giving.  How blessed I am to have been given chicken bones to make free and nutritious broth.  How favored to have the health, wisdom and vitality to make my own food and serve my family.  How rewarding to do everything not for myself but for THE HOLY.  That everything can be made holy by dedicating this moment to GOD.  As often as I think of this, it quiets and gentles me, humbles me and fills me with hushed awe and in that moment, my kitchen becomes a cathedral and my mundane task becomes a hallelujah chorus before the Throne of Heaven. And I feel my very smallness next to His very greatness, a majesty that all the vast and swirling galaxies cannot compare.

     The long, drawn out math lessons when my daughter who can't remember 2+2 yet yesterday she could multiply all her 7s, and my flesh rises in frustration.  STOP.  This moment can be made Holy. And the Holy makes it beautiful, peaceful, joyful.  And rich life bubbles over and I find that I don't have to live life in the mundane, in the struggle and grime but can lift my head, my eyes, can sanctify my every moment and all the sudden Heaven is here, glory has come down and joy has filled my soul.

    It all sounds so easy, right?  Well, it is and ... it isn't.  My humanity often fights against this simple gift.  Why do we fight against those very things which will cause us greatest joy, satisfaction and peace?  Why when we have been set free, do we cling to our chains?  It is for freedom that we have been set free!
   
    And I want to live every moment of every day free to walk softly where angels walk and all one can say is Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who has done great and unfathomable things, who is present and all powerful in the midst of my mess, and who will be the Deliverer and Hope unfailing.

Chicken broth: bones of 1-2 chickens in a large crockpot filled with water - 1/2 onion ( or left over bits of onion peels saved up in the freezer that I've been saving and don't use in other cooking), carrot tops also saved in the freezer from carrots used in prior cooking, celery parts (same as carrots and onions!), salt, pepper and garlic.  I let this simmer all day, debone any remaining chicken, discard the bones and use broth in soups or any manner of cooking.  Freezes very well!