Ordinary Days

“Some days he exalted and hallowed, and some he made ordinary days.”~Sirach 33:9


“The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.” ~Thomas Moore

Are there any ordinary days?

This past week was one of the saddest of my life. My little beagle buddy, Harley, had to be euthanized. She had been my best friend for the past 13 years. Over the Labor Day weekend, she escaped our home for the last time, and was hit by a car. Despite the best efforts of students and faculty at Tufts, her multiple injuries continued to complicate her prognosis, making a complete recovery impossible. We could not watch her suffer any longer without hope of resuming her normal “ordinary” life.

I think about waking up in the morning with her soft brown eyes looking up at me, breathing her doggy halitosis in my face, waiting to be taken outside for her walk. I remember her excited barking and baying when I’d come home from an evening meeting. When I was in my office working, she would curl up in her special bed in the corner of my den. If I went upstairs to get something, she would be at my heels. If I sat down to watch television, or meet with a friend, she was at my feet. It all sounds so ordinary, doesn’t it?

Yet, the meaning in our lives derives from the ordinary. I think of time spent with a friend who died this summer after a long struggle with cancer. We did nothing exceptional, just sharing our lives and our hopes and a cup of coffee or tea. I also remember sharing good food and company with a missionary friend. We laughed at his adventures, only to shed tears months later when a senseless murder cut short his life of healing and hope. Such ordinary things: empty cups, dirty plates, scattered napkins, are all memories recalling extraordinary times together.

Our lives are filled with the ordinary. They become so familiar that we forget the enormous blessings in ordinary things: children’s coats lying on the floor, mud tracked into the house, dirty dishes in the sink, wet kisses, school buses, panting pets, the smell of clothes after a day of work, sharing leftovers, the rustle of leaves, the resonance of laughter, the relief of tears, and someone’s dirty handprint on the wall. All of them become our memories, and later, we may recall them as hallowed and sacred times. They are moments that are in no way ordinary, in fact, they are sacred moments that will never be again.

For the past few years, I have swept dog hair off the floor and tossed the nuisance in the trash. Now, each time I find a bundle of the stuff in a corner or under a chair, I take a moment to remember, and yes, tears do well up in my eyes. No, there are no ordinary times, for us, or for our friends…just sacred moments given to us as a gift from God for the time when they are no more.