In Ordinary Time

My tomato plants on the sunporch have become my reminders that we are in the church season of ordinary time. They are so green and I often stand by them and think how glad I am that ordinary time coincides with summer when nature is at its greenest in this hemisphere. I love that in Godly play the sundays between Pentecost and Advent are called the 'great green growing sundays'. There is something so wonderful about Advent, Lent, Easter and Pentecost; but, now as a mother who works hard to make the celebrations happen I'm grateful for this long stretch of ordinary time, where we are learning and growing in a steady and uneventful way.

I packed up the godly play table the other day and couldn't bear to pack the green cloth (the color for ordinary time) from the table, so I threw it on a stand in the sunporch. Yesterday, without really thinking about it, I began collecting some green things. It started with setting a couple tomato plants up and then a handful of green toys. Soon Jonah was in on the hunt and we keep adding to the table when we find another green item.

I love that it is truly an ordinary time table. These are the ordinary things of our days:a baby spoon, a teaspoon, yarn, toys, ribbon, a boot, a kolrabi (the weird looking green veggie)... But somehow on this table we notice these ordinary things in a new way. The ordinary is suddenly special - {extra}ordinary if I may say it - and that is the work of ordinary time; seeing the specialness and the sacredness of the everyday moments, people, materials, stories... around us and recognizing the wonder of creation and redemption in all parts of our lives.

And thanks to the inspiration of Jean Marzollo (author of the I Spy books), we've been having a lot of fun with this table.

I spy some buttons, a snake that is green,

a chicken, two dragons - one nice and one mean.

I spy a street sweeper and a paint brush too,

a muffin cup and crocodiles - not one but two!

I spy two trucks and a wooden palm tree

two balls of yarn and I wonder what you see...