ISBC 20 - It Doesn’t Get Easier
Chapter 20 of Hope: A User's Manual (the one in which the bench makes an appearance)
At the time, I affirmed the feeling and urged both courage and compassion. Later though, I remembered a bit of wisdom I once heard from an elite-level runner: It doesn’t get easier. You just get stronger.1
Even if you’re just going out to run some joy miles, it’s still tough going. Couches are comfortable.2
Ordinary Time. If one is into the liturgical calendar of many Christian churches, that’s the time we are in. Ordinary Time. Exciting huh?!
Ordinary Time takes up the majority of the church liturgical year. Yes, there are the seasons of Advent and Lent (both purple or blue in the liturgical color scheme) and there are a smattering of times when the color is white (Christmastide and Eastertide), and a few red days thrown in there (notably Pentecost). But the rest of the year? Green. Ordinary Time.
In the Protestant branches that I am a part of, there aren’t a lot of “special days” from when Pentecost ends (usually sometime in May or early June) until we get to the end of November with Advent. So, the majority of the year it is not about the big, special, unique days but instead it is finding God in the ordinary. Sure, it is easy to get excited for Advent/Christmas and for Easter (Lent isn’t necessarily a time to be centered on getting excited) but what about the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time?
But that’s where our lives are lived. In the ordinary. In the 23rd Monday of 2024 or the 42nd Thursday.
That’s what I heard in what MaryAnn shared in this chapter - how to keep going in the ordinary. How to keep getting off the couch when it is just another day for another run. How to keep seeking and living hope when it may feel like empty words.
One of the things I love about the Jesus stories are the teaching stories Jesus uses and how so many of them are centered on basic, ordinary, everyday things. Seeds. Jobs. Bread. People. Parents. Children. Fishing. Ordinary things.
These two benches have been ordinary things for me throughout this year. I’ve been photographing them at around the same time (approximately 7:45) many times throughout this year. Currently, we’re in the time of the year when it largely looks just about the same. The sun is up, there aren’t colorful contrasts of a sunrise, and so forth. But the practice still needs to be there - 7:45am at least a few times a week. And yet, there is unique beauty in the ordinariness of it. Just look at these two photos. Roughly the same time but a totally different sense. Totally ordinary but also uniquely beautiful. (Or at least I think so)
Through all of what MaryAnn wrote in this chapter, while she wrote about discomfort, I heard the challenge to just keep going in the ordinary. I find that I am most motivated either when I’m feeling great or when I’m feeling lousy. The challenge for me is when it is just that meh/mid type of time.
Discomfort isn’t a sign to stop. It’s a sign to lean in further.3
When is it hardest for you to be motivated and moving?
Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed
McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 92). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 93). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 94). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
Personally, I love, love, LOVE ordinary time! I have more expectations (out of my control) during more exuberant times—and I find myself feeling more angst/anxiety/PRESSURE—and then I freeze!