Welcome! Today, I’m combining my 31 Days post with five-minute Friday.
Ordinary is on a constant renovation process in my life. One of the defining terms for ordinary is ‘unexceptional’. I can see how that’s been true in my life.
Growing up, I often wished to be ordinary. I stuck out in my elementary classes because I looked different. Noticeably so. If I were ordinary like my classmates, had their light-coloured, thin, easy-to-manage hair and pale-looking skin, then maybe I’d fit in better and not be such an easy target.
As I grew older, ordinary people seemed to have a pretty simple life—at first. They would go to college, many of them without even needing student loans, complete a degree and get a great job. They’d buy a home, car and just roll out of bed every day in time for a Starbucks run as they headed to the office. At a deeper glance, though, many of them were unsettled. Something was missing and/or lacking in their lives.
There were many instances when I wished, and even prayed, to be ordinary. I was tired of being the exception.
Then I got to know Jesus. For myself. This changed everything!
I grew up in a Christian home, so the idea of Christ and a Saviour was not a foreign concept. (This also a major factor of my not being ordinary). But it’s not enough to hear or know about Christ. You must get to know Him for yourself. Develop your own relationship with Him, because He really does want something special and intimate with all of us. Suddenly ordinary had new meaning.
I appreciated looking different. It taught me to seek out others and to be sensitive to a variety of people. My new ordinary meant having an awareness of people’s beautiful differences and that they need to be enhanced and encouraged.
My new ordinary meant waking up early to spend time in the Word, connecting with God. This filled me with peace and purpose for my day ahead. When challenges came up, I knew I had back-up. I was never alone. I was no longer envious of the empty lives that most of my co-workers had.
Christ is the exception to ordinary. While living on earth, even He didn’t hang too closely with the ‘ordinary’ folks of the day. He went ‘lower’ than that—mere fishermen, tax collectors, women with questionable reputations, sick people, children, etc. He started living the unusual and made it become ordinary. His ordinary involved showing love and grace to everyone, His enemies in particular.
I’m working to make new exceptions daily. I’m trying to take the truths God is redefining and live them so that it becomes ordinary in my life. Showing love shouldn’t always be a rare and exceptional thing.
