Extraordinary Measures

Yesterday, I watched as a news station played a tribute to the notables who passed away during 2010. Most of the faces I recognized, some I didn't. Actors, politicians, comedians, scientists, athletes and more thread through the clip. A sense of nostalgia blanketed my mind as I recalled how I had been touched by their unique gifts. An unforgettable line in a movie, a refrain from a song, the title of a book, or a sense of awe at the impact some had made on our history and culture. When I first began writing, I dreamed of penning a stellar novel. In this alternate universe I imagined book signings, the beaming faces of my friends and family as they watched on a giant flat-screen my guest appearance on Oprah. It was never about money but rather the idea of doing something extraordinary and good. When I watched the fleeting images on the television, it reminded me of something I had read a number of years ago in a book by Rhonda Britten. She says, "We all share the same qualities, we are at some level ordinary. It is our ability to to be ourselves that allows our uniqueness to shine. To live with intention and be ourselves we must be ordinary." Not many of us are called to be the author of a best-seller or a rich athlete. I am thinking most of us are called to be just plain ordinary. I am warming up to ordinary. It reminds me of a grandmother reading to a sleepy toddler. Or a teenager gathering a plethora of shopping carts in a crowded parking lot in the pouring down rain. Mary and Joseph were ordinary. I don't think God would have chosen them had they been celebrities. Rather he took extraordinary measures to accomplish his divine purpose which in truth embraced their commonplace lives. I might not be a famous author, but this next year I might just dare to be ordinary.