The Loveliness of the Commonplace

Part 2

“Blessed are those who recognize they are spiritually helpless.
The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to these.”
Matthew 5:3

Jesus knew more than any human being that has ever walked the earth what spiritual
helplessness looked like. Whether we recognize it or not, it is the reality we all share. God
knows it. Jesus-in-human-form knew it. We are the ones who find it difficult to admit that truth of how helpless we truly are regarding our own spirits.

I grew up in the “church world.” I was rarely exposed to the realities of the “fallen world” all
around me. However, the “church world” was quite full of “fallen world” people. Often, despite best efforts, it was difficult to differentiate between the two worlds.

When I (a “Pastor’s Kid” aka “PK”) grew up and fell in love, it was with a man whose life
experience was in a traditional faith that was quite foreign to my experience. I grew up with an attitude toward his faith tradition as a faith that was “missing the Boat.” Although I very
personally had asked Jesus to come into my life when I was a little girl, I saw in my husband a genuine kind of faith that was borne out of his very genuine realization of the “lost-ness” of his life before coming to know Jesus. He knew what it was to be truly “lost” . . . and then truly “found” by his Savior. As our lives became established together in following Christ, I began to realize very personally witness the transformation that Jesus could create in any human heart opened to invite Him into their life. I could see transformations of lives, as these new Believers asked Him to give them a new heart and His Spirit.

It changed my whole perspective of my world. I was watching real people, who had never
known the Forgiveness and New Life that Jesus made possible, come into a very real
experience of Life-Change. . . Heart Change . . . Mind Change . . . and Eternal Destiny Change.

Those Truths and Promises I had always been taught took on living, breathing Life as I watched people walking away from “what was” and into a new Life. They were experiencing new thoughts, new spirits, and new Eternal Destinies now in their life’s reality.

Jesus’ Presence in our lives . . . our hearts . . . our minds . . . changes everything. It is real. It is
visible. It comes out in practical, tangible ways that others notice. It is seen in the simple acts of daily life. It shows up in thoughts and actions and motivations and attitudes that had not been part of our lives before He came to us. . . into us. The Common becomes something Lovely.