Saturday obtusion . . .

Saturday morning. Coffee. Sofa.

I don't know whether it is a coincidence or divine intervention, but I am glad for this Saturday morning convergence of the sofa, coffee and me. (See last two posts)

By the way, all my favorite coffee mugs were in the dishwasher this morning. I forgot to start it last night. So before I sat down to begin posting I had to reach up on the top shelf where I store old mugs that I don't use. Without looking I pulled one down. "One Day at a Time" was written on the side of the mug. Never noticed it before. Yes, that is the name of this blog site. Coincidence? Yeah, I think so. But it made me smile considering the theme of the week.

Then I read the smaller print under the "One Day at a Time" logo.

"Make it a masterpiece . . ."

So now I am sure I vote for coincidence. If there were some sort of divine hand directing my hand toward that "One Day at a Time" mug, the selection of which made me smile, then I might also have to consider the rest of the divine message, "make it a masterpiece . . .".

I don't want to put in the effort to make today a masterpiece. I want to sit on the sofa, drink coffee, listen to NPR, and do a little blogging. If I get really industrious I might start the dishwasher. Actually I know I will if not starting it is going to lead to more of these demanding messages from random mugs on the top shelf. Maybe that's how I choose which mugs are in the rotation. The mugs that demand more of me I have stored on the top shelf, far out of reach.

My favorite mugs bear the logos "Krispy Kreme," "Cafe du Monde,", "O'Henry's", and "Paris." I didn't realize my mug selection would reveal such hedonism.

I am still intrigued by coincidence. I still don't know what I think.

I have a friend Deb who has a gift for observation. She seems to be able to absorb the stories of life that go on around her. And more life seems to go on around her than anyone else. (There is a link to her journal, "My Rambling," at the bottom of this blog site) After she absorbs these stories, she is able to retell them in an incredibly entertaining way. Then she usually draws some lesson of life or faith from the story.

Jesus did the same thing. He told stories based on everyday life and drew profound life and faith lessons from them. He wasn't as funny as Deb, but He did have that miracle thing going for Him, which so far Deb has held back, unless you count that obscenely high score on Pathwords.

It was not necessary for Jesus to create new situations to make His parable points. Weddings, vineyards, workplaces, farms and farmers, sheep, widow's, rebellious sons, oil lamps, lilies of the field, all already existed. No divine intervention was necessary. The message was derived from ordinary occurrences. But it was a divine message nonetheless.

On the other hand, He turned water to wine, multiplied fish and loaves, healed lepers, the lame, the blind, and brought a friend back to life. Not so ordinary.

So maybe the question is not whether an occurrence is coincidence or an intervention by the divine.

Maybe the question is whether there is a message for us, whether it be in the ordinary or the miraculous.

Or maybe there is really no difference. Ordinary is miraculous. Miraculous is ordinary. If we only have eyes to see, ears to hear.

I gotta go turn on the dishwasher.

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