Is the Mundane More Miraculous than we Realise?

It can be easy to dismiss the possibilities of ordinary moments: doing the groceries is a chore, cooking is a bugbear.

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For Catherine Bradshaw, when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few years ago, these moments became the ones when God spoke to her most.

In Epiphanies and the Shopping Trolley, Sydney-based teacher Catherine shares “monologues of the mundane and miraculous”, inviting us to come back to the wonder that exists in even the most routine tasks.

“What [my diagnosis] did for me was just open my eyes to the wonder of every moment,” Catherine told Hope 103.2.

“Every breath is a gift, and so I went looking for it.”

Catherine’s condition means she lives with continual fatigue and nerve pain, but it’s become a motivator to rely on God.

Catherine’s condition means she lives with continual fatigue and nerve pain, but it’s become a motivator to rely on God.

“The fatigue is probably for me, the most crushing symptom,” Catherine said.

“But I try very hard just to think everybody lives with something and if this is just a little limitation I have, well, I’ll just work around it.

“My faith is absolutely key.

“[Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis] actually really made me plumb the depths of my faith and make sure that every waking moment, like I’m walking with Jesus.

Reading the book of Job, and the story of Abraham and Isaac and their complete surrender to God have become sources of strength for Catherine.

“He’s got me, he’s got this. I might not completely understand it, but I know he’s there.”

Reading the book of Job, and the story of Abraham and Isaac and their complete surrender to God have become sources of strength for Catherine.

“We shouldn’t minimise that life can be very difficult for people,” Catharine said.

“We shouldn’t use faith as sort of anaesthetic in a sense [to] deny that humanity can be painful.

“But I think we really need to sit comfortably [between pain] and lifting our eyes to the transcendent God and his wonder.

“It is confronting, but then really freeing and liberating.”

Listen to the full interview with Catherine Bradshaw in the player above.

The trust Catherine has found in God flows into the everyday moments, which she believes can be just as sacred as more intentionally holy ones.

“I had a day the other week where I came home from school after a shocker of a day [and] started hoeing into this bag of Doritos,” Catherine laughed.

“And then I thought, ‘actually, I really haven’t talked to you, God, about today, have I?’

“Then I just felt like I was sitting on the lounge having a bag of Doritos with Jesus.

“Life is just living each moment. And so for me, the mundane has become precious.”

Join the book launch for Epiphanies and the Shopping Trolley at C3 Church Ryde, Sept 27 at 11am.

Listen to the full interview with Catherine Bradshaw in the player above.

Feature image: Supplied (Pauline Zufferey)