February feels like a lifetime ago. Somewhere between the inexplicable run on toilet paper and the staggering number of people who have lost their jobs, or their lives, the world as we knew it turned upside down. We still don’t know if or when it will ever return to “normal.” We don’t even know what “normal” will look like. Who would have imagined “normal” could end up being so extraordinary, anyway?
As much as we all want this season to become a memory, there’s one thing we can’t forget: We have been appointed to these days. They were set aside for us by the Creator who holds our times in His hands (Psalm 31:15). They were ordained for us written down before one of them came to pass (Psalm 139:16). And if the purpose of our lives is to know and adore and glorify the God for whom we were made, then these days are not an interruption to what we’re supposed to be doing. Nor are they a waste. They are very much a part of our calling.
Called to the Unremarkable
When we talk about being “called” to some endeavor, it’s usually something “big” or “significant.” A big, significant goal. A big, significant ministry. A big, significant ambition. But what if we are just as called to the things that seem so terribly unremarkable? The things that feel so ordinary, they couldn’t possibly be significant?
In the earliest days of the church, “insignificant” acts of kindness led to Christianity’s explosive growth: caring for widows who had no other family, adopting infants who had been abandoned, caring for the sick who had been evicted from their own homes. They fulfilled their calling to “love your neighbor as yourself” in the days God had appointed for them.
Every time we care for our families, give to someone in need, serve others in our communities, or share the hope we have in Christ, we are living out His call. Every time we anchor our lives in God’s promises during these uncertain days, we fulfill His calling our lives. And every time you and I choose faith over fear, we are doing exactly what He has called us to do.
Does that sound simple? I suppose it is. But perhaps this uninvited simplicity is just what we needed to rediscover what is truly significant. And maybe—just maybe—on the other side of this crisis, we’ll find a new “normal” that is far more extraordinary than we could have imagined.
