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Ordinary?
The extraordinary beauty of ordinary. Assisting us in finding joy in the most ordinary aspects our lives is the plan, the work and the pleasure of God. If we must go beyond the ordinary to discover our pleasure then we haven’t really figured ourselves out or who God is. Could it be wrong to aspire to greatness? If our foundational aspirations are fame, power, wealth or even personal recognition, then yes, it’s wrong and will only undermine the joy which was planned for us. The painful result of self gratifying pursuits is ultimately sadness or depression. For many this probably sounds terribly boring. After all, ordinary is … well just plain old ordinary. Don’t we all want to feel special, at least in our own world?
One can’t shake off the fact that God created each of us to be totally unique. The very nature of our existence has been scientifically ordained toward uniqueness. Physically, we are the unique product of one seed and one egg. Emotionally, we grow out of a unique arrangement of individual, environmental influences. Spiritually, we are the essence of the character God chose to breath into us. So we can never be ordinary. When He said to Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV), the Lord didn’t mention fame or fortune, those are the types of rewards we seek for ourselves. When our plans are not aligned with God’s, they’ll never produce the happiness we seek. “But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.“ (Micah 4:12 NIV). I cringe a little whenever I hear concerned friends or family utter commands like make something of your life or do something great. This simply adds fuel to the consuming fires of human depression. Failure is a part of life and will remain so until we start to realize the life that God planned for us. If God has something grandiose in mind and we remain obedient to His will, we can be sure that He will make it happen. But if it’s our plan, not His, “The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.” (Psalm 94:11 NIV), we’ll be carrying the weight of all the disappointments alone. The bible is intentionally overflowing with seemingly ordinary stories about ordinary people, yet each is worthy of special recognition. To truly enjoy ordinary in this extraordinary world is a challenge for us, yet that’s the plan. Simply having experienced the tiniest part this extraordinary creation will likely be the fondest recollection of a purified heart.
JC Calkins with Hope for all of God’s UNCOMMON PEOPLE
A Treasured Valentine
To simply scratch the surface of the mysteries of this universe is commendable. Deeply understanding even a few of them is however, totally relative. Someone living today knows more about the human body than anyone living a thousand years ago! An accomplished writer living 200 years ago could easily have managed a working vocabulary of over 200,000 words, while most writers today use only half that, which is still twice the voice of most other people. We’ve gained so much… read more
Pouring Out Love
To regain our sanity in an insane world … We are the sole engineers of our outcomes. Our destiny is never dictated by God, or by our environment, physical traits or abilities. Our life outcomes are the direct and indirect results of our many varied choices, which in some instances are further influenced by the related choices of those around us. “We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness,… read more
Temptation & Sorrow
“One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting!” (Luke 17:1 NLT) There are days when I’ve come to suspect that Satan himself is running ahead of me, whispering into the minds of those I’m destined to encounter, something to the effect of “give this guy an opportunity to cheat on something, he’ll go for it!”. There are far too many people around looking to… read more
When I’m Afraid
Psalms 56:3 “When I am afraid, I will trust in you“. This of course refers to the love, power and wisdom of the Lord, not to any other mortal, not to any place, judgement or action and not to or from any objects. Oddly enough, such trust is too often our approach of last resort. With each first fear, we reactively do what has become natural for us. We first lean upon our tangible resources, in an effort to resolve… read more
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