the ordinary that is more than enough

All too often we focus on what we don’t have and forget that with God we have more than enough. Michael Pollesel writes, “God has been at work, since creation, to bring God's dream to fruition by investing in creation.” God regularly gives us gifts. Michael goes on to say, [But too often] I have been afraid to use the gifts, or to look for new ones. Having been 'forced' out of my 'comfort zone' I did find new gifts which are now being put to good use. Is God continually drawing us out of our comfort zones to help us discover what other gifts God has for us? Could it be that Jesus wasn't aware he could do what he did at Cana? Maybe someone pushed him where he really didn’t want to go. Could it have been an instance when he was out of his comfort zone? Not only does the water change to wine, but the best wine at the wedding party! Using our gifts can have results that are greater than we might imagine.”

There are many in the church who think that they have no gifts, or their gifts aren’t good enough, or they don’t have any gifts left. It’s that “we don’t have” attitude that prompted 'The Reverend William Sloane Coffin to say, "Jesus turned water into wine, but we in the Church have become very good at turning the wine back into water." the new wine of Jesus - the fulfillment of the hopes of God's people - is what we long for and hope for. Yet when we look about us, we can see oldness at every level. We carry old fears and anxieties despite our faith in God; we are weak stewards of God's gifts to us. Sometimes it's hard to see the newness of life, and like the chief steward at the wedding, even when we do see the evidence we misattribute it to the usual sources instead of recognizing the miracle of God working through us.