We cannot walk very far without feeling the influence of the word, “Extraordinary.” Movies showcase the seemingly normal person who defies the odds. Conference speakers by the droves share their story of fulfilling their dreams. Even narratives in sermons come back to David beating Goliath.
Today is Monday. Most of us have a few issues with extraordinary right now. We live in this jumbled mess of trying to reconcile our present with what we had expected for ourselves. Our souls long to combat the lies of where we think we should be with the truth of where we are.
All of us to some degree or another want to live with contentment of the present and hope for the future. At the root of dealing with extraordinary, we are wrestling with these internal issues:
Narrow Focus
Along the way of planning for our lives, we made one defining moment. This moment we have prepared by pursuing education, networking, and researching. You can call it a career or relationship, but the best way to describe it is a dream. Our view of extraordinary is limited to this one narrow focus.
Distortion
Brene Brown in Daring Greatly defines narcissism as, “…the shame based fear of being ordinary.” All of us to some degree deal with love, acceptance, and belonging. We want to know that we matter to people, but even more so matter to God.
Cynicism
There is no easier place to be than pointing out the wrong without ever taking the chance of providing the view of what is right. Perhaps, the depth of our cynicism reveals our doubt of extraordinary. It seems to never happen to us, but happens to everyone else.
The issues of our view of extraordinary deals with our hearts. It delves deep into our view of God, attitudes, and what we understand as blessings. By no means is this a simple issue. But maybe in identifying these issues, we can start to understand what extraordinary looks like in our lives.
What does extraordinary look like for you?