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I made banana bread this morning. Poured in the eggs and butter and sugar and flour. This bread is my son’s favorite so I make it often. As often as my bananas allow. The bananas. You can only make this bread if they’re going bad. If their peels are black and shriveled and their flesh is past its prime. I’m astounded by the fact that something as worthless as overripened bananas can be so valuable if it’s used in the right way. If I left them out, sitting on the counter, they’d be in the trash by morning but if I take them and peel them and mash them, mix them and bake them…they make bread. This bread that is cooling on my counter finds its namesake and flavor in the ingredient that was redeemed. In the part of it that defied death and waste. Sweetness and identity are found in this recipe not through the obvious ingredients but in the one that was snatched from the grave. This is the way of Jesus. The way of taking old and rotten and blackened bits of life and restoring them to goodness and use. The way he takes things that seem too far gone, picks them up from their deathbed and pours them out to bring joy and nourishment and hope. The gospel is here, in this very loaf. It’s fragrance beckons and says, “You are not too far gone.” There is nothing in you that Jesus can’t take and redeem. Whether blackened or decayed, past your prime, languishing in an unseen corner. Whether forgotten or broken, ignored or left for dead, YOU ARE NOT TOO FAR GONE. Jesus is ready to redeem you. Ready to peel away the darkness with his nail scarred hands. To give you a new identity, one that is far sweeter and more beloved than the one you had before. From waste to worth. From death to life. This is the way of Jesus. #magnificentordinary #thegoodnews #baking #writersofinstagram

Mornings with Murph 💗 #minigoldendoodle #buddy #murphydoodlebear

Morning after morning, I turn the car westward towards the elementary school. We slowly roll down the street joining the line of cars that leads into the school parking lot. Parents lined up like soldiers, marching their children towards knowledge and challenge and growth and love. Together marching towards victory for the future of humankind. This westward trek is peace filled for my mother’s heart. Westward means mountainward here in Colorado. It means that my eyes will feast on the rising, powerful peaks that have hemmed me in all my life. They’re a gift, the Rocky Mountains. For their beauty and their grandeur, yes but also for the way that they remind me of the one who made them. They stand guard over my home. Graceful and powerful. Awe inspiring and steady. They are present in the rise and fall, in the sunrise and the sunset. Season after season, those mountains remain unshakable, gracefully shouldering snow and sunshine alike. There’s a reason that our hearts and souls find rest and contentment in creation. We should be awakened at the sight of it. People flock to these mountains because, whether they know it or not, these peaks unlock something in the hearts of humankind. Something that reminds us of the unshakable, powerful, beautiful, dependable, creative, and delightful nature of God. As I leave my children like a gift in this valley below the peaks I remember that the hands that carved it out hold them steady. I remember that my God is faithful and strong and full of staggering beauty. Daily I turn my eyes westward and they catch a glimpse of the one that has hemmed me in all of my life. #magnificentordinary

I read this bad advice today. “In 2020 stop doing things that no longer serve you.” This is not a strategy for finding happiness. This is a sure fire way to feel unfulfilled and disappointed. It’s a sure fire way to make those around you feel unfulfilled and disappointed. I would have put it this way. “In 2020 start doing things that don’t serve you.” “In 2020, start doing things that serve others.” Serve others. Change the world with simple selflessness. #kindnessmatters #serve #magnificentordinary

Dawn Wispy clouds turn to flame, licking at the soft blue of morning. It’s no small thing, how the sky fills with color and warmth at the beginning of each day. How cool tones and warm tones collide after deep, quiet darkness. Together, they make light, mark time, create a context for life to unfold. Perhaps this is how we know that opposites attract. We see it in nature but we forget it in the natural. In the everyday interactions. Look at the sky. Look how seamlessly night defers to morning. Look at how the opposites blend together. It’s courtesy. it’s humility. It’s beauty embodied in deference and respect. It’s a passionate yet gracious volley between night and day. What if we were like the dawn? Passionate. Gracious. Humble. Respectful. Captivating in the way that we defer to others. #writersofinstagram #kindnessmatters #beauty #magnificentordinary

This sunbeam came over for coffee today. It spilled in through my back door while my kids ran upstairs to play and its light lingered and kept me company. This sunbeam comes by every morning about this time. Darts past my curtain and lingers on the walnut planks of my kitchen floor. It’s ordinary yet glorious. Dependable and enchanting. It holds celestial light and crumbs from my kid’s toast all at the same time and that is the magic of life. The way that the simple and the grand, the mess and the majestic collide on the floor of my home. It brings me deep joy, this simple little sunbeam, and reminds me that inspiration and contentment are right there dancing on the floor if I only linger long enough to notice. What are you missing today? What mundane miracles can you mine out of your day? How can you cure your Monday discontentment by paying closer attention to the magnificent ordinary? #joy #peacefulplace #writersofinstagram #magnificentordinary

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