June 26: Potential

"It's amazing what ordinary people can do if
they set out without preconceived notions."

-Charles F. Kettering

Ordinary people are extraordinary.

I've always thought extraordinary was a strange word. "Extra-ordinary." Shouldn't it mean plainer than plain rather than exceptional? Or maybe that's just me.

I don't know about all of you, but most days, I feel rather ordinary. Ordinary isn't a bad thing. I go through my day to day life, plugging away at work, at parenting, at the laundry, at all the average, everyday activities that are a part of my life. What happens to me, though, is I forget the extraordinary part. I forget about the gifts I have and I forget to use them in a way that glorifies God.

Jesus sought out the ordinary and prepared them to be extraordinary in ministry. He spent time directly in ministry of course, but he also spent huge amounts of time seeking out and training new people in ministry.

Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 4:19

A challenge for today: What opportunities do you have to be extraordinary for God in your day to day life? How can you invest in the lives of others to encourage them to embrace their extraordinary-ness and ordinary-ness?