Extraordinary Women for Ordinary Time

I have this friend. This friend is a blogger. A successful blogger. She creates custom tote bags that are bought by the rich and fabulous. Her studio is obviously the staging area for Pottery Barn. Her house is immaculate and welcoming. Her husband still smooches her in the kitchen while he shakes cocktails and fixes dinner. Her twin boys are cute, mischievous, and bright. She has thousands of followers on Instagram. She is successful in all the ways that matter in our world today.

More than that, she is successful in all the ways that matter to God. She is generous, kind, gentle, full of love and laughter. She’s extraordinary.

I, on the other hand, remained in my pajamas all day yesterday. My house is pretty tidy at the moment, but let’s be honest, that’s a total fluke. My kids subsist on graham crackers, raisins, and peanut butter. My business is run out of our dining room/classroom/studio that is smaller than many closets. It is constant chaos. I pay no attention to my “social media presence” beyond cracking wise about my kids on Facebook. My life often feels extra ordinary.

This last year, Christ has been calling me to revel in the ordinariness of my days. He constantly reminds me that the size of my laundry piles is not inversely proportionate to His love for me. That a spotless kitchen is not an accurate measure of my worth.
He reminds me that although these days, this “Ordinary Time”, often feels like marking time between Easter and Advent, it’s this Ordinary Time that makes up the very stuff of our lives. The maintenance, the play, the work - they are the main event. Ordinary.

It is anything but ordinary.

We are anything but ordinary.

During this time, we balance marriages, children, friends, Formation classes where we are expected to create Botticelli’s “Adoration of the Magi” in macaroni. You’ve seen that Hindu statue with the fifty pairs of arms? I’ve occasionally wondered why God didn’t see fit to give us a few extra pairs, but as I’m writing this, it occurs to me that He’s given us something even more miraculous.

He’s given us each other. Extra arms. Extra eyes. Extra hearts. Extraordinary.

Tiff is a homeschooling mama of three, the wife of the best man she's ever known, a writer, a milliner, and occasionally an attorney. She loves her current home of Kentucky, where fine bourbon and very large hats are in plentiful supply.