Daniel Bogert "Ordinary as Mask of the Holy"

Lane believes that ordinary, mundane objects are actually masks that point to the glory of God. We cannot look on God directly as Moses did; because he is too magnificent for our eyes to take in. So instead, God is revealed through the beauty of everyday things that we often overlook. I find this idea intriguing, although i'm not yet entirely convinced. On one hand, I object to the idea that the mundane can be considered holy. As a kid, I loved stories, whether they were in books or movies. I think I developed the idea that life is supposed to be like a story. I was conditioned to think that every day should be an epic adventure, full of drama and danger. Of course real life does not work this way. There are rare moments when life seems like a movie, but most of the time it's picking up the dry cleaning and mowing the lawn. Because I have a desire for life to be like a story, I reject the mundane in favor of the wonderful. I think this mindset may only lead to disappointment however; since life is for the most part quite ordinary. Therefore maybe Lane is right that the beauty of God's creation can be found in the most mundane things. I've noticed that when you look closely at something ordinary like a blade of grass or a cluster of dirt, it actually is rather beautiful. There's a level of detail that is astounding yet almost always overlooked. Maybe by looking for some heavenly display of grandeur, we are in fact ignoring the beauty all around us. The only problem is that I don't really know how to train myself to focus in on the ordinary. If you've ever been swimming while wearing goggles, you begin to get used to the dimmer more mundane version of the world you see through the dark lenses. After a while you start to think that that's the way the world really looks. Then you finally take them off and suddenly you reenter a world filled with vibrant colors and life. I guess my problem is that I don't know how to take off the goggles.