Inciting Joy!

God is glorified...

...in ordinary people. We look on the thankless and monotonous moments as roadblocks. Ordinary days are not an interruption. They are miracles. God places human beings in so many places. God chose where you were born before your birth. We glorify God in the simplest ways.

When my friend John Killinger suggested writing a book on the magic of being ordinary, I knew he meant not just how to go from ordinary to extraordinary, but the reverse.

When we hear the word ordinary, it brings the impression about something not only common, but unnoticed, small, or unimportant. Most people think they must get away from such an existence. The ordinary kind of life is not worthy of our thoughts.

Killinger would say we should never run away from the magic of being ordinary. We don't escape the insignificant. We miss the most significant. We lose our smallness and our greatness. There is magic in being ordinary. We are the work of the Master Creator. The correct understanding of the word is that we are wonders. We are one of billions of humans, and yet each one is unique.

Instead of sitting down and waiting for life to become extraordinary, we need to take control to start finding joy in the ordinary. Make the world a better place by serving others, the whole community, and all that we touch. My wife volunteers at the community food bank. Whatever you do, be the change. Helping others is a double win.

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The Rev. Dr. James McReynolds is founder of Visionquests for Joy International. He provides spiritual encounters in local churches, hospitals, colleges and schools of higher education, prisons, businesses, and civic organizations. He lives in Elmwood, Nebraska.