Book Review: No Such Thing as Ordinary

When we first moved to this house in Indiana, I was an older mother with 1 pre-teen and 2 infant boys. I may have been able to do it all when I had Bryce. In my early 30s, I worked to provide us with an income while my husband was in graduate school. I cared for our home and our one child. I attended church and Bible study. Everything went smoothly and life felt very fulfilling.

But having small children in your 40s is nothing like raising an only child in your 30s. Too frazzled to join Bible Study Fellowship, I could barely handle caring for our kids, let alone our house. Their constant need for Mommy left me drained at the end of each day. I sought something for myself - some small place where I could reclaim my brain and my interests - late at night on the computer. I stayed up later and later, reading the blogs of other mothers facing these dilemmas.

My favorite bloggers often had sons. After all, boys can be a breed apart. Their energy, intensity, curiosity, and drive can bring a mom to her knees. (Ah, they are no longer small, but they still bring me to my knees - this time in intense prayer.) Thus, I followed Rachel Balducci's blog, Testosterhome. It was one of my favorites, and I enjoyed a kinship with Rachel and her passel of boys. Her blog inspired her first book, How to Tuck in a Superhero. I wasn't aware of her next two titles: Make My Life Simple, and Overcommitted. Her newest book, No Such Thing as Ordinary, is right up my alley and addresses familiar inner battles.

Rachel outlines the struggle many mothers face with lives focused on the cares and concerns of a family. The tasks can feel mundane. The days long. Life goes on auto-pilot and previous goals or dreams get put on hold. As she says, "You can love your kids and also feel like life is passing you by." I've been there, wondering if this is all there is. Am I doing everything God wants of me when my focus is always on meeting the needs of my family? Or is there something bigger out there for me to do?

No Such Thing as Ordinary reminds the reader that this longing for something bigger is truly our God-shaped hole. God doesn't want us to seek bigger dreams to fill that hole. Rather, He wants us to get quiet with Him and let Him satisfy these deep needs that we often mistake as a longing for deeper purpose. Using the Bible passage about the woman at the well, Balducci points the reader to the satisfaction God offers with His living water. If we try to satisfy that longing with something else, we will need more. But when we allow God to step in and meet our deepest needs, He fills that inner void and heals our wounds. When we define ourselves by what we do, we remain disillusioned. When we define ourselves by His love, we find peace.

One image she uses in the book spoke volumes to me. She explains you don't survive incoming waves by trying to rise above them, bracing against them, or avoiding and withstanding the shattering swell. The secret is to go deeper. When you plunge beneath the oncoming water, you are not overwhelmed. You absorb the blast and survive the onslaught. I love that image. When life is battering, go deeper!

I appreciated her acknowledgement that we need to recognize our inner poverty. How can He fill us if we're not even aware of how much we need Him? Plus, she didn't encourage the reader to seek closeness with God through efforts to follow Him. He meets us. We don't need to strive for some sort of strictly reciprocal relationship. Indeed, I heard her emphasis, "Get quiet before God and He will come fill the space and give you joy." Our lives may seem ordinary, but they become extraordinary when God moves into every facet of life and fills us.