Why Your Daily Purpose is Far From Ordinary

I’m excited to introduce you to my friend Emily Saxe for this special guest post.  While I don’t regularly share posts from guest contributors, Emily and I are women with the same vision for reaching the world through the words God puts on our hearts.  I had the joy of talking about life and writing with Emily on the phone a few weeks ago, and it’s an honor to share her words with you today.

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I read the words on the delicate page in front of me. My mind pictures the scene, transporting me from my kitchen table to an olive garden where the sun still wakes. I see the warm light reflecting off a stone wall, illuminating a woman weeping. Mary Magdalene.

As my mind’s eye shifts focus, I notice the risen Christ walking barefoot in the cool blades of green. It’s not long before He opens Mary’s eyes to see His resurrected body. I read the words of Jesus giving Mary the greatest purpose there is: go and tell.

I sigh slightly, the shivers of wonder slowly fading as I glance up from my Bible. My eyes now see the reality around me. My dining room windows peeking at the ordinary view of the next door neighbor’s siding. I see my scuffed-up floors, my unfinished kitchen remodel, my laptop awaiting 8 a.m.

The peace and joy I felt while reading Mary’s story are shooed out of my heart. In their place stands one question: Will my purpose ever be anything besides ordinary?

The Fear of Insignificance

I love my life. I truly do. God has clearly worked in the nitty gritty of each detail to bring me to my current circumstances. But there are days when my work feels so ordinary I fear I’m slipping beyond the potential of doing something extraordinary for God.

Do you ever feel this way? Lost in the mundane of the present, fearful the future will never prove more than an ordinary life?

My own fear stems from feeling insignificant. If this is all God has asked of me, does that mean He believes I’m not capable of anything greater? Does He see me as ordinary, since His purpose for me right now is to push forward faithfully in the waist-high waters of routine?

We read stories like Jesus choosing Mary to be the first set of eyes to see His risen body and wonder where our own olive garden resides. When will we feel the warm light dance across our face and hear our Savior’s voice present us with a mission He’s chosen specifically for us?

How easily we forget Mary’s beginnings, though. While the stories of Mary living as a prostitute or living a sexually-sinful life are, in reality, nowhere to be found, we do know one thing: Mary’s purpose before the resurrection was what we all might consider ordinary.

Jesus Doesn’t Need Us

We know from Scripture Mary was a part of the group of women who cared for the needs of Jesus and His disciples during Jesus’ ministry. The specifics remain a mystery, but we can make some educated guesses. Mary worked behind the scenes to ensure Jesus and the disciples had a place to sleep, food to eat and finances to keep moving.

Can you imagine what this might have been like for Mary? She gave up everything to follow Jesus, yet there were 12 men who clearly had a more important role in Jesus’ ministry and His heart. They ventured out into the streets, onto the hills and into boats with Him. They watched Him perform miracles and heard Him speak in public and private among just their small circle.

How easy it would have been for Mary to look around her and see the ordinary of her service. The mundane of securing food and lodging. Her purpose in this ministry must not have been as exciting, as grand, as she dreamed it would be when she left her life behind her to follow Jesus.

But here’s the beauty in Mary’s service: Jesus didn’t need her obedience, yet He loved every moment she spent glorifying Him with the routine of her mission.

Each act of obedience from Mary in the midst of her ordinary purpose prepared her for that moment in the garden. Each day as she watched the men walk into another battle against evil, leaving her behind for the ordinary, she sharpened her own defenses as she obeyed right where she was.

Something we can practice daily, too.

Far from Ordinary

We must be careful to not obey in the ordinary simply for the hope that God is preparing us for something greater. Mary’s story is not for us to assume what we consider ordinary is just a stepping stone to extraordinary.

Rather, we can find contentment — and, yes, joy — from Mary’s story by knowing God delights in our service, no matter how mundane we feel. God doesn’t need us, yet He wants us. He rejoices over us as we pour out every single ordinary moment as service to Him. #encounteringGodintheordinary Click To Tweet

Our routine might appear rather mundane, our purpose less than extraordinary. But when we begin seeing our service in light of how God views each act of obedience, the stifling monotony melts away to reveal our garden tomb. We will begin to see Jesus walking barefoot in the cool of the morning. We will feel the warm sun dance across our faces.

And we will hear Him call us by name as He declares over us our purpose for each day. A purpose that is far from simply ordinary.

You can read more about Mary’s story and how Jesus calls you by name in my four-week Bible study, “He Calls Us by Name.”

Emily Saxe was born and raised on the east coast but now considers herself a Hoosier as she loves life and farm country in Indiana with her husband. Emily is founder and managing editor of her devotional-based website, To Unearth, where she encourages her readers to see God at work in their ordinary. Working as a full-time freelance writer and editor, her heart and her pen are drawn to stories of faith as she helps people share how God is working in their lives. Everyone has a story to tell, and Emily loves helping to give people a voice to share their own story.

Read more of Emily’s articles right here!