Have you ever seen a movie about an ordinary man who gets up early, works a boring dead end job, sitting in a cubical all day every day. After work he comes home watches tv, and then goes to bed. Only to awake early the next morning and do it all over again. Day after day the same thing. There is never a climax, never an adventure. There is no plot twist where the man accidently bumps into this beautiful coworker, and they fall madly in love. There is no time when he somehow gets caught up in a huge scheme, seeking revenge from his life sucking job, and embezzles millions of dollars form the company. No, instead the entire movie is spent in this sea of cubicles with the miserable man just waiting for five o’ clock when he can get back to his television.
Of course there is no movie like that! We don’t want to watch people living pointless lives content on doing the same thing day after day! We are naturally attracted to risk, adventure, passion, romance. We know that there is more to life then mundane routine never leading to a great adventure. We feel this longing deep from within, calling us to more. We long for as Belle would put it ‘Daring sword fights, far off places, a Prince in disguise’. We know that we are destined to live a great story.
So why then, with this cry of our hearts to live extraordinary lives, do we find ourselves content with choosing the ordinary? So often we are presented with these amazing opportunities to live extraordinary lives, and we have to choose wether we want to live lives of intentionality, or if we are going to live lives where we come home every day to watch tv alone. A never ending routine where we never seek more from life, or from ourselves.
The Lord has given each one of us moments, where we can choose to influence and affect those around us. He places us strategically in places where we have exactly what the people around us need. It is our choice weather we are going to step out and live the amazing story of risk and adventure, or if we are not. We can choose to do noting, continueing on the path we have always taken, or we can choose the adventure, the great story by reaching out to those around us.The amazing thing about these moments and opportunities that the Lord showers upon, is that they are not only given to you while you are having your best day. You don’t have to be doing missions work, or traveling the world to live an amazing story. You can choose to live an amazing story every day in the little things. It’s a choice you have to make.
My best friend and I decided that we were going to live extraordinary lives. And the day we decided that wasn’t an extraordinary day at all, in fact it was cold and overcast outside sprinkling lightly covering everything in water. It was one of those days where all you wanted to do was sink into your bed, and grab a nice book. Being outside for any length of time was miserable. My best friend and I, were off to my mothers, my heater keeping us toasty and music playing softly as we laughed back and forward. We had just hit a patch of construction, when our conversation shifted to the construction workers themselves. “I heard one of the worst jobs is being the person who holds the stop signs at the beginning and the end of the construction site.” My friend said as we pulled to a stop in front of said employee.
“I could see that.” I agreed “I mean they have to stand outside all day, without company, not moving very much. And lets be honest, all the people who are in a hurry always get mad at the person with the stop sign. I bet they almost gets ran over numerous times a day.” We smiled and waved kindly at the woman with the stop sign as we pulled away. Contemplating how cold and miserable she must have been outside on a morning like that. Half a mile later I found myself pulling into the first restaurant we came to. Turning to my best friend I saw that she was grinning, knowing exactly what I was thinking. “Lets love them greatly.” She said to me excitedly as we climbed out of the car.
There were two construction workers with the stop signs. One at the beginning of the site, and one at the end. We grabbed two cups of stemming hot coffee, and two homemade cinnamon rolls that were still hot form the oven. Jumping into the car we turned around and headed back towards the construction site. We drove up to the first man, and pulled off to the side of the road. He looked at our car with disdain, wondering what someone could possibly want now. Probably to complain about something. Jumping out of the car with coffee in one hand, and the cinnamon roll in the other I watched as his face change from disdain to curiosity, to shock as I held out the coffee and treat. He seemed almost suspicious, wondering what I could possibly be up too. Smiling I told the man that we appreciated how hard he was working, and that we just wanted to bless him. He slowly took the things from me, a hesitant look on his face. I turned around and ran back to my car. As we drove past the man I saw him grin, and take a sip of his coffee.
The woman was much more receiving of our love. As I ran towards her with the coffee and cinnamon roll, she looked at me with disbelief proclaiming ‘You’ve got to be kidding’ a huge grin spreading across her face. Handing her the coffee and bag I told her the same thing I had told the other man, saying that we appreciated how hard she worked, and that we loved her. She was speechless. Jumping back in the car she waved hugely at my friend and I yelling ‘Thank you girls!’ as we got back on the road.
We very easily could have chosen to continue driving that day. We could have seen the construction workers, felt bad for them, and yet continued on, Instead we chose to stop and love them. Imagine the stories that they got to tell their families that night over the dinner table. Stories about the two crazy girls who went out of their way to tell them that they were loved, to show them that they were important and appreciated. We decided that instead of living a life where we were too busy for people, we were going to live lives that impacted others, and reflecting the fathers love to those around us. But this shift in our stories was a decision. We had to choose to love, choose to stop, choose care. It didn’t just happen.
The Lord gives us these small opportunities to encourage, impact, and love those around us every single day. He lets us choose wether we want to live a life of great love, or of mundane tasks. A life of adventure, or the same story over and over again. We long to live those great adventures that we see projected on big screens, and the Lord gives us opportunities every single day to do just that. We just have to choose to say yes.
