Ordinary
Michael Horton
I know the front man of a heavy metal band that acted this way… I act this way too, but it’s a lot more fun to mock somebody else! Anyway “this way” is the addiction to something new, something radical, revolutionary, challenging and exciting. It’s the addiction to new vision, the addiction of new and big, radical things. People can get this way with music. They lose interest in what they have and set their hearts on the horizon of what’s next. There’s a dissatisfaction with what we have. The opposite of this could be called “settling for the ordinary.” When you’re caught up in the fresh and new, “ordinary” sounds stale, old and poisonous. This is a lie. It’s a trap.
I’ve looked at my friend and shaken my head. ‘Doesn’t he understand?’ I ask myself. ‘Why can’t he live in the here and now? Why can’t he invest in the people around him? Why does he only get excited, light up and thrive when it’s a new vision, a new truth, a new word or a new direction?’
That is so lame. But it describes me, too.
I love this book, because it does a wonderful balancing job of putting ordinary or so-called “ordinary” into a balanced perspective and showing how a balanced, healthy life is not always pursuing the next big (and) new thing.
I have to confess that I am a big fat egomaniac. I want to be a hero. I want to accept the trophy, give the acceptance speech and be seen as great in people’s eyes. This drive has caused me grief in my life, as my messiah complex and my (somewhat good, but just out-of-balance) desire to change the world allowed me to put my life on a reckless and unhealthy schedule – the kind of schedule a workaholic appreciates. Even knowing that I had the approval of God and didn’t have to earn it (grace has sunk deep in my heart, which I’m grateful for, acknowledging that this is also a work of grace) … even though I knew better, I still sought the approval of man. What a goober!
Cherishing more “normal” or “ordinary” things, like having nourishing relationships with those close to me (family, friends) is a higher calling. It might not sound exciting, thrilling or glamorous, but it is ultimately more fulfilling. These are the lessons of life, but a lot of us (like my numbskull metal frontman friend and my own damn self) are making a mess out of all this.
Thank God for this book, which underscores the glory of the ordinary.
[Zondervan] Doug Van Pelt
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