This morning is off to a slow start. I woke up at the “usual” time, but have been mindlessly scrolling through random internet stories. Two caught my attention. The first related to a guy who ate fried chicken at every meal for a month and, surprise, gained 25 pounds and a host of other related medical issues. The second was a study revealing that eating one or more cups of dark kidney beans can reduce cholesterol levels. Apparently, the darker the bean, the better. The study recommends replacing meat with beans. The problem: I like fried chicken and hate dark beans. Sometimes life isn’t fair.
As I sat with my cup of coffee, it struck me how often we swing to extremes.
One article tells us to go wild and indulge. Another tells us to never let go and eliminate. We bounce from one end of the pendulum to the other, chasing the “secret” to a better life, even if it’s bound to make us miserable … and make us prone to binging in the other direction.
The thing is that we often approach our spiritual lives the same way.
We think every prayer should be extraordinary. Every Bible study or sermon should produce a breakthrough. Every act of service should change the world. The danger is that if we’re not careful, we can spend so much time chasing the spectacular that we overlook the steady.
But God often works in – and through – the steady. Daily bread. Daily faithfulness.
Most of faith, just like most of life, isn’t lived in dramatic leaps and bounds but in quiet, consistent steps. Just like the healthiest relationships are built one conversation at a time, faith grows one day of trusting God after another.
I’m still not convinced, and will probably never be convinced, about replacing fried chicken with kidney beans. At the same time, though, I won’t be eating fried chicken every day, and I can put kidney beans in my chili. But, more importantly, I’m convinced that God rarely asks us to live our faith at the extremes.
Instead, God invites us to walk faithfully today, making the next right choice. In the meantime, we are encouraged to trust that a life of the “ordinary” is anything but ordinary in God’s hands.
I hope you have a blessed day. If you are craving fried chicken, have a piece. If kidney beans are your thing, have a cup. And along the way, be sure to add a little “piece” of prayer of thanks to God and share a “cup” of encouragement for another person.
