“To the Fahaeans, the rain them, both implausible and prehistoric in that valley where the fields were in love with the river, was a thing largely ignored.”
In the novel, This is Happiness by Niall Williams, there was a quaint village by the name of Faha. This was a village characterized by constant rain and little sunshine in a beautiful Irish location. Nonetheless, because it always rained, no longer did anyone pay it (Or the sunshine for that matter) any mind. In fact, the beauty of their homeland was largely ignored because of the rhythms of life.
Williams has a way of painting imagery and putting the reader into the story. I could feel the misty rain and the plush, green grass underneath my feet as I read. And then it struck me.
Do I recognize the “ordinary” beauties around me and the daily, simple graces that God has, is, and will give me? Many people who would undertake this introspection would likely come to a similar conclusion as me-
Not at all.
God is active in making us new each day. He does not save us and then leave us to our own, wicked devices. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that God renews that inner man “day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
We live by His saving grace and we live in daily graces. Theologians for years have termed these daily graces as “common graces.” But there lies the problem.
God’s endless, frequent blessing should never be deemed common. Whether we see them new each time or not, any dispersion of grace by God is unique in that it is totally undeserved-
Yet freely given. They are not common.
As a matter of fact, everything truly unique and beautiful is of God. Therefore, I find fault in human’s tendency to disqualify that every good thing is of God (Ecclesiastes 3:11; James 1:17). Every good thing of God is a gift, by which we have access because of His gift of grace through the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ (Psalm 84:11-12; Ephesians 2:8).
Saying this, I want to encourage you, the reader, to look around and inward today. What gift of God has become common to you today? Start this introspective journey with thanksgiving for the indescribable gift of your salvation (2 Corinthians 9:14-15). Then work down and count your blessings.
Who knows what God is doing or has done in your midst today?