Good morning, friends.

I’ve been thinking lately about how much of life happens in places we probably wouldn’t describe as significant. We load the dishwasher, drive to work, stand in line at the grocery store, answer one more email, make dinner, and perhaps sit beside someone we love at the end of a long day. Most of our lives aren’t lived in the moments we circle on the calendar. They’re lived in all those ordinary spaces in between.

I wonder how often we’re so busy looking for the places where God might use us that we miss the places where He already is.

Last week, we talked about carrying the peace of Jesus into the rooms we enter. I’ve continued thinking about that this week because those rooms don’t have to be extraordinary for Jesus to be present in them.

In fact, I wonder if some of the most beautiful reflections of Him happen in places that seem wonderfully ordinary.

Sometimes it’s patience when we’re tired or kindness when no one is watching. Sometimes it’s looking up from what we’re doing long enough to really see the person in front of us, listening instead of rushing, offering encouragement, remembering someone’s name, or choosing gentleness in a moment when irritation would have been easier.

None of those things will probably feel particularly remarkable when we’re doing them, but perhaps that’s exactly the point.

Scripture Reading

Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
Colossians 3:12-17 (NIV)

Pause and Reflect

When Jesus told His followers, “You are the light of the world,” He wasn’t speaking only to people who would stand on platforms, lead ministries, or do things the rest of the world would notice. He was speaking to ordinary people who would go home to ordinary lives.

I’ve always loved that because, if you had told me years ago that God would someday put me on stages to speak about Him, I’m not sure I would have believed you. I’m grateful for every opportunity He gives me, but some of the places I’ve loved meeting with people most have been much smaller and quieter – sitting across a table with coffee and a cookie, sharing our stories and paying attention to what Jesus might be doing right there between us.

Maybe that’s why I love those kinds of conversations so much. There’s an intimacy to sitting across from another person and listening closely enough to notice where their life intersects with yours, and then beginning to recognize the places where God is intersecting both. Sometimes a story they share awakens something in me. Sometimes something I’ve walked through becomes the very thing Jesus uses to encourage them. Neither of us necessarily arrived expecting anything significant to happen, and yet somehow an ordinary conversation over coffee becomes holy ground.

I think that’s one of the things Jesus has taught me through the years: we don’t need a stage to reflect His light. In fact, when I look at the life of Jesus, I’m struck by how much of His ministry happened in ordinary places. He stopped beside wells and along roadsides. He ate meals around tables, noticed children, touched people others avoided, and made time for those everyone else seemed to be passing by. The Kingdom of God kept showing up in ordinary places because Jesus was there.

And now, through His Spirit, He lives in us.

The light we reflect isn’t something we have to generate ourselves. Jesus is the Light. Our invitation is to remain close to Him, paying attention to where He is already at work and allowing His life to become increasingly visible through ours. That’s really what we’ve been learning throughout this entire Reflecting season.

I find myself thinking again about the sunflowers we’ve returned to throughout this year. A sunflower doesn’t strain to create light. It simply turns toward it, receives what it needs, and eventually what has been happening quietly within begins to show. Maybe our lives with Jesus aren’t so different. As we keep turning toward Him, receiving His love, allowing His Word to shape us, and responding to the quiet invitations of His Spirit, His light begins showing up in places we may never have thought to look.

It can happen at the kitchen sink or across a conference table, in the school pickup line or beside a hospital bed. It can happen over coffee with a friend, in the way we answer when we’re tired, or in the way we treat someone who can do absolutely nothing for us.

The ordinary places of your life are already places where Jesus can be seen.

Perhaps the invitation this week isn’t to go somewhere new or do something extraordinary. Maybe it’s simply to slow down enough to notice where you already are and to remember that Jesus is there too.

Soul Care Practice: Holy Noticing

Choose one ordinary part of your day this week, something you normally move through without thinking much about it. Before you begin, pause for just a moment and pray:

“Jesus, help me notice You here.”

Then simply pay attention. Notice the people around you and what’s happening inside your own heart. Is there a small invitation to listen, encourage, slow down, offer kindness, or simply be fully present?

You don’t have to make something happen. You’re simply practicing awareness of the Jesus who is already present in the ordinary.

At the end of the day, take another quiet moment with Him and ask:

“Jesus, where did Your light show up today?”

You may be surprised by what you begin to see.

Carry It With You

Think about one ordinary place you enter almost every day – your kitchen, your workplace, your car, your neighborhood, or maybe your favorite coffee shop. Let that place become a gentle reminder this week that Jesus is there too.

Instead of rushing through it, occasionally slow down long enough to notice the people around you and what He might already be doing. Over time, I think we begin discovering that there really aren’t many ordinary places after all, not when Jesus is in them.

Prayer

Jesus,

Thank You for meeting us in the ordinary places of our lives. Forgive us for the times we’ve been so busy looking for something significant that we’ve missed the quiet ways You were already at work right in front of us.

Open our eyes this week to notice the people You place along our path and the small invitations we might otherwise hurry past. Teach us to remain close enough to You that Your patience becomes visible in ours, Your kindness shapes the way we respond, and Your love quietly reaches people through the way we live.

Thank You that we don’t have to manufacture Your light. You are the Light, and through Your Spirit, You have chosen to make Your home in us. May our ordinary lives point gently back to You.

In Your precious name, Amen.

Until Next Monday…

Thank you for sharing another Monday with me.

As you move into this week, don’t wait for an extraordinary moment to look for Jesus. Look for Him while you’re pouring the coffee, answering the email, making the drive, folding the laundry, or sitting across from someone you love. These are the places where most of life happens, and perhaps one of the most beautiful things we’re discovering in this season is that reflecting Jesus doesn’t require a remarkable life. It grows out of a life that keeps turning toward Him.

As you move through the ordinary rhythms of your week, keep turning toward the Light and trust that Jesus is doing far more in those seemingly small moments than you can see.

I’ll meet you back here next Monday. Until then, may you begin to discover just how much holy ground has been hiding in the ordinary places of your life.