Connecting with God when it feels like nothing special is happening

I read recently that Facebook has been known to lead to depression. This person just enjoyed a vacation to Hawaii. That person's kids are cuter and apparently don't act up like yours. And that friend over there just won another award. If you're feeling sassy about your life, you join in on the bragging parade. If that little gray cloud is hovering over you reminding you of how things just aren't turning out, Facebook makes it worse.

Today I decided to raise my fist in protest by writing a post about the morning my walk with God was less like leaping forward and more like shuffling along. It's like getting on Facebook and posting, "Nothing special happened in my world this morning. You feel me?"


This morning I got up and made tea like usual. I sat in my chair like usual. I began my prayer time, like usual, with these words:
"You were [God’s] enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault" (Col 1:21-22, NLT)
The Big Story of how God rescued me/us is as spectacular as the sun bursting over the mountains on a crisp alpine morning. It often moves me deeply. Yet today I felt little. Still, I kept shuffling.

I shuffled through the rest of my devotions. I read the Scriptures. Left foot. I prayed for people. Right foot. I thanked God. Left foot.

Then I read this quote by John Ortberg, and it gave me a renewed appreciation for the days when we shuffle along in our walk with God:
Do not despise the day of small things. For that, too, is the day the Lord has made. And that is where we find him. (All the Places to Go, 87)
Thank you, Jesus, for shuffling along with me rather than running ahead and leaving me alone. I am content to find you in the day of small steps. Amen!

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