NA-LEEF gedagte | Reeds HIER

Na-leef gedagte: Reeds hier…

“The sacred, I’ve come to think, rarely arrives in spectacle. It does not wait for the right conditions. It does not require a clearing of time or a heightened state. Instead, it gathers in the small, persistent acts that make up a life—the way a hand reaches, the way a word is chosen, the way attention rests, even briefly, on something easily overlooked.” Robbin Farr

“The sacred is in the ordinary…it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family, in one’s own backyard…To be looking elsewhere for miracles is to me a sure sign of ignorance that everything is miraculous.”  Abraham Maslow

’n Bejaarde man en ’n klein seuntjie beland op dieselfde bankie in ’n speelpark. Die gaping in jare bring hul gemaklik nader aan mekaar, maak die ruimte onbedreigend. Hul begin spontaan gesels oor die park, oor speel, oor bome, herfsblare, wolk-prentjies, alleen voel en die lewe.

Daardie aand vra die seuntjie se ma hom uit oor sy dag. Hy antwoord opgewonde “Ek het vandag vir God ontmoet! Ek het nooit geweet Hy is so oud, so sag en dat Hy ’n bril dra nie.”

By ’n ander huis in die buurt vra die bejaarde se dogter vir hom, met sy tuiskoms: “En hoe was pa se dag?” Waarop die ou man antwoord “Ek het vandag vir God ontmoet. Ek het nooit geweet Hy is so jonk, vriendelik en nuuskierig nie.”

Op ’n digter-blad wat ek soms lees loop ek amateur digter Jimmy Clemens se ontwaking vir God-in-die-gewone raak. Ek hoop dit kan jou ontwaking aanhelp…

 

Sacred Ordinary – Jimmy Clemens

For years,
I looked for God
in extraordinary places.

In sanctuaries
filled with stained-glass light.
In songs that lifted hearts
toward heaven.
In moments so profound
they seemed to leave
their fingerprints on the soul.

And sometimes,
He was there.

But I was surprised to discover
how often I found Him elsewhere.
Not in the exceptional.
In the ordinary.

At a kitchen table
scarred by years of use.
In the familiar sound
of a key turning in the front door.
In laughter shared
before the dishes were cleared.
In quiet conversations
that asked for nothing
except presence.

I began to notice
how grace lingered
in everyday places.

Sunlight resting
on a windowsill.
A neighbor waving
from across the street.
The steady rhythm
of footsteps on a morning walk.
The smell of bread
warming in the oven.

Simple things.
Things I once hurried past.
Things I assumed
were too ordinary
to matter.

Yet holiness has a way
of appearing
where we least expect it.

Not demanding attention.
Not announcing itself.
Simply waiting
to be noticed.

I remember one evening,
standing at the sink
washing dishes.

Warm water moved
across my hands.
A drop splashed upward,
striking my wrist.
I reached for another plate.
Its edge pressed lightly
against my thumb.

Outside,
the last light of day
slipped behind the trees.
Shadows stretched
across the yard.
One by one,
the windows
in nearby houses
began to glow.

A spoon slipped
from the counter,
striking the floor.
The sound echoed briefly,
then settled into silence.
Nothing remarkable happened.
No revelation.
No voice from heaven.
Only a sudden awareness
that this moment,
ordinary as it seemed,
was a gift.

That my life,
imperfect as it was,
was still being held.

That God was present
not only in the extraordinary moments
I remembered,
but also in the ordinary ones
I almost missed.

The dishes.
The running water.
The fading sunlight.
The quiet peace
of being exactly where I was.

And perhaps that is why
the sacred often arrives unnoticed.
It wears familiar clothes.
Speaks in ordinary voices.
Walks beside us
through ordinary days.

The God who stayed
was never waiting for me
on the far side
of some distant miracle.

He was already here.
At the sink.

At the table.
In the fading light.
Within the life
I was already living.

And once I began
to see it,
the ordinary
never seemed ordinary again.

Na-leef Vers

Genesis 28:16-17

Jakob het wakker geskrik en gesê: “Die Here is op hierdie plek, en ek het dit nie besef nie. Jakob het bang geword en gesê: “Hoe skrikwekkend is hierdie plek! Dit is niks anders nie as die huis van God; dit is die poort van die hemel.”

 

Na-leef Vrae

1. Jakob moes eenvoudig wakker word vir God se teenwoordigheid, al was dit deur te droom. Wat kan jou help om wakker te word vir God se teenwoordigheid in jou alledaagse?

2. Jakob het bang geword na sy wakker word – dalk agv die vorige deel van sy storie. Wat dink jy sal in jou kan verander wanneer jy meer bewus kan wees van God in jou alledaagse oomblikke?

3. Hoe sou ’n gebed klink wat vra dat die Gees jou sal wakker maak vir God se reeds hier wees? Bid dit dalk gereeld.