My Father Is Always Working

“My Father is always working, and so am I.”— John 5:17 (NLT)

One day Jesus said something so simple that I think we can almost miss it.

“My Father is always working, and so am I.”

Always.

I’ve loved those words for as long as I can remember.

When I first gave my life to Jesus, I never thought following Him had to be complicated. It just seemed natural to believe that if He was alive, then He was with me. If He loved me, then He would lead me. If He said His Father was always working, then I wanted to learn how to notice what He was doing.

So I started paying attention.

Not just to what people were saying, but to what God might be saying through them.

I’d quietly ask,

“Jesus, what do You want me to hear right now?”

That has never really changed.

It’s simply become the way I live.

Learning from Mary

As I’ve read the Scriptures over the years, I’ve realized I’m in wonderful company.

Mary comes to mind.

After the shepherds left Bethlehem, Luke tells us,

“Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.”Luke 2:19 (NLT)

Years later, Luke says it again.

“His mother stored all these things in her heart.”Luke 2:51 (NLT)

I love that.

Mary didn’t have all the answers.

She didn’t rush past ordinary moments.

She treasured them.

She believed God was doing something, even when she couldn’t yet see the whole picture.

I want to live like that.

Around the Table

One of my favorite places to practice paying attention is around the table with haverim—friends gathered around God’s Word.

I don’t come hoping to be the smartest person in the room.

I’m not trying to become a Bible scholar.

I’m simply a friend of Jesus sitting with other friends of Jesus.

We open the Scriptures.

We ask questions.

We listen.

We encourage one another.

We pay attention together.

Sometimes Jesus uses a verse I’ve read many times.

Sometimes He uses a question from a friend.

Sometimes He quietly whispers something into my heart while someone else is talking.

More than once I’ve gone to encourage someone else only to discover that Jesus was gently changing me.

I love that.

The Glorified Ordinary

Lately my husband Dave and I have been using a phrase that makes me smile.

The glorified ordinary.

Maybe that’s what I’ve been seeing all along.

Not ordinary moments that suddenly become spectacular.

Ordinary moments filled with the glory of God because our Father has always been working there.

A conversation in a hospital room.

A meal shared around the table.

A friend asking an honest question.

A verse that stays with you all day.

A quiet prayer.

A simple act of kindness.

A cup of coffee with someone who needs to know they’re loved.

None of those moments seem extraordinary.

But maybe heaven sees them differently.

That’s Where I Find Jesus

When I read the Gospels, that’s where I find Him.

Walking dusty roads.

Sharing meals.

Visiting homes.

Listening.

Asking questions.

Blessing children.

Stopping for people everyone else hurried past.

John tells us,

“So the Word became human and made his home among us… We have seen his glory.”John 1:14 (NLT)

The glory of God walked ordinary roads.

Even after Jesus rose from the dead, He met two discouraged disciples on an ordinary walk to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize Him until later. Looking back, they realized He had been with them the whole time (Luke 24:13–35).

I think that’s true more often than we realize.

Our Father is always working.

Jesus is always present.

The Holy Spirit is always drawing people to Himself.

Our joy is learning to notice.

Today

Paul encourages us,

“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.”Philippians 4:8 (NLT)

As we learn to look where God tells us to look, we begin to notice His fingerprints everywhere.

I don’t spend much time looking for extraordinary experiences anymore.

I’m learning to enjoy the glorified ordinary.

The more I pay attention…

the more I see Jesus.

And maybe that’s what heaven will be like.

Not one amazing moment after another.

Maybe it will simply be seeing what has always been true.

Every conversation.

Every meal.

Every friendship.

Every quiet act of love.

Every ordinary moment…

filled with the glory of God.

Because our Father was always working.

May I suggest that for your next retreat, event, celebration, testimony or moment, lay down the desire for the "once in a lifetime" or the spectacular. Instead engage the normal. Jump on a swingset. Kick a soccer ball, Take a seat at a table, savor an expresso and share stories of God in the ordinary.

In the Ordinary with my Extra-Ordinary God. Rennie Garda