One of the markings of a good writer is the ability to make interesting the ordinary. Since I am not a good writer, I usually just stop writing when I have nothing to contribute. Some would argue that I should stop writing altogether since I don’t write well even when I have an interesting story, and I suppose that is a good point as well.

One of the questions I ask before hitting the publish button is, “Is it worthwhile?” But the problem with this question and the tension I balance before emptying my brain on the screen is that it all depends on who you ask. Some folks care about my kid who thinks his baseball team is on the road to stardom. And the rest, which would be the majority, would think I’m bragging and fire off an email with some reference about “humble” and “musings”. But this blog is for the former group, not the latter, and therein lies the tension. I only have like six friends*, and the rest of the readers are onlookers to my conversations with them.

Writing is a funny thing. When you write, you assume that the person on the other end cares about what you’re saying. I often include self-deprecating humor in my writing, not as a display of humility, but as a matter of style. This is how I talk in real life and this is how I write in real life. Humility is an irony, and you know I love irony. Think about it, you can never say that you are humble. That would be an oxymoron. Editors could have a hayday with a book like, “How to Be Humble Like Me.” I can think of a few blog titles that would be dumb too.

Humility is the ability to see yourself in proper relation to your Creator. It’s not about thinking less about oneself as much as it is seeing God for who He really is. But that’s just it—our tendency is that it’s all about us, not God. Any holiness, goodness, reason for boasting on our part is all due to His holiness and what He has done on our behalf. We have nothing if He is not everything. He is great and we are small.

Tons of people want to do “great things for God.” Instead, we ought to do small things for God, everyday, right now, not tomorrow. He has already given us instructions: love God and our neighbor, act justly, love mercy, walk humbly. In the smallness, there is greatness. In the ordinary, there is extraordinary. Paul Tripp once wrote, “Remember, it is not your weakness that will get in the way of God’s working through you, but your delusions of strength.”

That’s why I often say that our daily work is an offering to God. We need meaning in order to push the pile of rocks back and forth. (The rocks would be a laundry reference.) When we find meaning and joy in our daily tasks, remember that it is daily grace that we depend on, not a strong personality. I know this because I have a strong personality, and it does run out.

This was quite a long way of saying that I have nothing to say. I just wanted my friends to know that I’m not dead and I’m still my same old self, which of course, is good and bad at the same time. I can think of a lot to say about that. Another time.

*That’s probably stretching it.