Ordinary Is No Longer Enough In This New Year

The Five Areas To Impact New Year’s

When the clock strikes 12:00 a.m. on December 31, will you be okay with living the same ordinary life you lived the previous year? If you’re not okay with normal, there are some questions you should ask yourself. Decide that ordinary is no longer enough in this new year.

When Ordinary Has Your Life
(Life Growth Area 1 – Our Life)
Are you really okay with having a normal life? Your home looks just like everyone else’s home you know. You got the degree and it’s not making much of a difference in the workplace or your career. You have a personal life that’s none existent because your life is filled with everyone else’s activities. Does this sound like a normal life?

What does an uncommon life look like? The easiest way to see it is to talk about what’s on the opposite side. What if everyone envied what your home looked like, how you manage it, and how you live in it? This is what the Queen of Sheba did when she visited King Solomon who had this uncommon life I’ve been speaking about.

“I [The Queen of Sheba] didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of it!” ‭- bible.com/bible/116/1KI.10.7.NLT‬‬

What if, you studied the subject and got the degree in the area of your giftedness and it opened doors for you so that you could serve your gift to the world? Forget just impacting your neighborhood, your city, but you now have a global impact. What if your personal life was so attractive that you have to live by a very strict calendar? What I mean by that is everyone wanted some of your time and would pay for it.

In this New Year, what will you do so that others find your life attractive without you having to wear a mask, pretending that it is?

When Ordinary Has Your Work
(Life Growth Area 2 – Our Work)
Are you really satisfied with the work you’re doing? You know normal people complain about their job, their work. That’s right normal people complain about the thing that was once what they called a blessing to them from God. How’s that? It’s what normal people do. You won’t be surprised at this, but most people (51% or more) hate getting out of bed in the morning because they hate their jobs. When you treat what you do as commonplace, you leave no room for it to be special, enjoyable, or rewarding.

So, here’s a question for you, what does uncommon work look like? What does your dream job look like? Can the job you have and the work you currently do, be the dream job you’re looking for if you stopped acting like a normal employee?

“There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth [the results of his toiling].” – bible.com/bible/111/ECC.4.8.NIV

Try reversing what normal people do, toiling without end and never being content with its results. Your work was once an exciting experience and for many the answer to their prayer for a new job. So what happened? Did the job, work, career change or did the person with the job, work, career change? After studying people for some time, I’ve noticed that the environment tends to rub off on a person, they become a normal, natural part of the environment in which they inhabit. Did this happen on the job? Why didn’t you impact your job in a way so that it remained the job you’d hoped it would be? That’s what an uncommon person does.

What will you do this year, to change how you view your work or to obtain that job that’s a better fit for your God-given gifts and talents? Common people do what comes natural while uncommon people do what comes un-natural. Now that’s funny.

When Ordinary Has Your Spirituality
(Life Growth Area 3 – Our Spirituality)
You have to love those people who make excuses about going to church. I actually like those who have every reason to never go to church again. They’ve been hurt or somehow damaged by people. I almost said church-people, but real church-people don’t hurt and if they did they know how to repent and fix it. Have you ever considered why people have their own excuses for not doing what spiritual people do? That’s normal. They say stuff like…
I know God, but I just don’t like going to church.
I have a relationship with God, but church just isn’t my thing.

Check this out, I know a guy who says He loves Jesus, but refuses to read the Bible. Think about that for a minute. It doesn’t surprise me because it’s what I expect of normal people.

In today’s culture, normal will have you believe that you don’t have to be radical to be a Christian or spiritual. Guys, that’s not true. If you weren’t normal and read the one Book that makes you spiritual, you’ll find that everyone who is spiritual is radical, which means they were uncommon.

This is your year. I think you should be radical. In fact, if you’re reading this, you have a desire to be radical. That’s what uncommon people are. Those who look normal in the face and says…normal is no longer enough. When will you be ready to say enough to normal spiritually? (As I say this, that’s an oxymoron.)

When Ordinary Has Your Interactions
(Life Growth Area 4 – Our Interactions)
We all on a regular basis come face to face with other human-beings. I call these interactions. It’s what we do when we’re not working. What behaviors do we have that look like every ordinary person on the planet?

I recently was working in my local Starbucks and this, what looks like a homeless ,“black” guy comes in. Mind you, I’m the only other “black” guy in the place at this time. He had very few teeth and you could tell he’d been drinking. However, he came in asking for help. He needed two things: money and a phone to place a call. The money was for the taxi he wanted to call. I guess you’re wondering how I knew this? Well, he came and sat down at my table. In hindsight, I’m glad he did. This gave me an opportunity to have compassion before other customers had the chance to see him as a threat. For I too thought he might have been a little threatening, that’s if you judge books by their cover. Before I finish…normal people wouldn’t have given someone in need, like this guy, the time of day. Because I took time to talk to him and gave him the money he needed, the situation drew less and less attention. This is what I mean by how we interact with the world around us. The uncommon impact the world around them for the better. In this case, the guy got a ride home and the people in Starbucks were able to continue their work without the appearance of a threat. I was able to put the patrons and the workers at ease in a situation that could have gone a different way.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works…” – bible.com/bible/114/MAT.5.16.NKJV

What are you doing to be a shining light to the world around? That’s what uncommon people do. This is your year to be an impact to the world you inhabit. What will you do? When will ordinary interactions no longer be enough for you?

When Ordinary Has Your Relationships
(Life Growth Area 5 – Our Relationships)
This thought is good all by itself. When ordinary has your relationship, it looks like a person who thinks only of themselves. Did you know that a guy who cheats on his spouse didn’t think about his wife? Did you know that lady who belittled her husband to her girlfriends never thought about her husband and only thought about herself? No matter what situation you face in a relationship it boils down to selfishness. That’s normal.

So what…someone wronged you. So what…someone talked about you? So what…she cheated you. The uncommon says so what. Yes, I know these sound tough, but remember this isn’t normal stuff. What do you think? If you wanted the easy stuff, you’d stay “normal.” What if you were bigger than the problems you face?

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” – bible.com/bible/111/JER.32.27.NIV

I know the One who lives on the inside of us is bigger. Therefore we must be bigger. So what…your family doesn’t act in the way you want them to. It’s not about you when you’re uncommon. Ordinary people remain consumed with self. When will you be ready for an uncommon relationship? Will this be your year to say goodbye to normal in your relationship?

As I continue to study my subject, this message of no-longer-common, what I’ve discovered is that normal will make certain that you become okay with the stuff you’d never be okay with if it weren’t normal. Since, we’re starting a new year, how about also starting a new you. I’d go as far as to say, you can’t have a new year until you have a new you.

It’s time you realize that ordinary is not enough in 2020. Share this content with your friends, family, and social networks.

Happy New Year!

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