Grateful for the Ordinary

Yesterday was an ordinary day… no dramas… nothing special. Ordinary but good.

I contacted people – meeting them as I walked, various phone calls, emails and text messages – everyday concerns – ‘How’s the family?’ ‘Have you had your vaccination yet?’ ‘What’s the latest news about…?’  

I chatted about plans for The Seagull – the local theatre I’m involved with: looking forward to reopening the building to the public, restarting clubs and activities, grants we’ve been awarded, exciting plans for future development…

This morning I got up at 6.30. Another ordinary day anticipated.

There was frost on the car’s windscreen. I went to the seafront. The sun was rising bright and clear over a very calm sea; not a cloud in the sky. People were out walking their dogs, jogging along the prom, taking photographs. Lowestoft at its best.

I pause… I muse… I’m grateful…

I’m grateful for people – ordinary people… grounding me in the reality of daily living outside my tiny world… enriching my life with their personalities, talents, humour, companionship. The walker, the talker, the drinker, the observer, the runner…

I’m grateful for beauty – the frost, sunshine, sea, the new day, wet pebbles on the beach, effortlessly gliding seagulls, the relationship of dog with owner, the fluent movement of the runner…

I’m grateful for gentle-calmness – being alone in quietness, the gentle lapping of tiny waves, being away from the phone, people who don’t get agitated and upset, the non-crisis, the relaxed easy runner…

I’m grateful for hope – the clichéd ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, the prospect of meeting people in the café, pub or home, fresh vision, the excitement of unknown opportunities, the over-weight struggling runner…

I’m grateful for faith – providing strength for the hope, security for the gentle-calmness and a source for all beauty. For faith in a God who creates ordinary people, became an extra-ordinary person and understands and runs (or walks!) alongside ordinary me.