Advent: Day 11

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Luke 2:8-9

The chapter I read in Max Lucado's book today is titled "God Dances Amid the Common." I like that a lot.

In this scripture, shepherds were doing what shepherds do. Shepherding. It was dark; they were watching the sheep. Nothing too exciting or earth shattering.

Then an angel appeared out of nowhere. And they were scared.

No kidding.

It's safe to say I would for real freak out if I were going about my business, let's say cleaning house, and an angel appeared in the kitchen. Freak. Out. I would probably say a bad word, which is not something one should say in front of an angel.

But the ordinary is exactly where God works. It's where the angels show up.

What if we spent all of our day to day activities anticipating angels? Looking through the simple and common to the extraordinary? Tonight I'm wondering what I would see in a day.

When my kids were little, everything they did seemed like a small miracle: sitting up, walking, saying words, dancing. I continually saw God working in these little humans. The older they get, the less I see it... or maybe the less I look for it.

My prayer today is that I spend my ordinary days looking for the amazing, for the miraculous, for the angels. I pray that God dances amid my common days, and that I'm paying attention enough to notice.