ordinary

The cleaning fairy missed my house.
I thought I had scheduled her for after our New Year's shindig. It's the busy season for them, so you have to call in advance. And being the considerate person I am, I even put away the leftover food before going to bed after the party.
But two days later, and no fairy.
Coffee cups and punch glasses and wine goblets and plates and trays litter my kitchen counters and my table.
Where have all the fairies gone?

Matthew 11 has always been a difficult passage for me. John the Baptist, a faithful preacher for the Lord, is in jail for his work for Christ. In his cell, he begins to wonder, perhaps even have a shade of doubt. He sends his disciples to ask Jesus, "You are Christ, right? I mean, this isn't for nothing?"

Stop. This isn't the difficult part. In fact, this part comforts me. Even John the Baptist had his doubts. Maybe we should call them semi-doubts. He's not renouncing Christ. He's not taking back his message. But he needs some reassurance.

Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? (Romans 9:21)

What if I'm Pharaoh? Or Esau? Okay, so I know that those examples are bad because I know that I'm a child of God. But what if I'm ordinary?
What if I'm not Esther or Ruth or even Rahab? What if my "for such a time as this" comes down to doing the laundry on a regular basis (and believe me, this is not such a time for that).