Is that possible? Do ordinary people do extraordinary things? I asked myself that when my grandmother hugged me and kissed my cheek as we stood beside the old taxi cab that would take us to the La Paz airport and head to our new home in the U.S. “Someday, you’ll do something great,” she said. I was only 12 years old then, and wondered if she realized I was just an ordinary kid.
Years swept by. And God placed the perfect example. My good friend went from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
On our way home from dinner, I sat on the passenger’s seat beside her. We stopped at a red light and she quickly reached in her back seat. “There’s one,” she said as she rolled down her window. She quickly handed the homeless man a plastic bag filled with a can of Spam, a washcloth, a water bottle, potato chips, a napkin, protein bars and among other items, a track explaining God’s salvation.
I’m so impressed,” I said. “How long have you been doing this pretty cool thing?”
“For about ten years.”
Wow. My ordinary friend, with one bag at a time was doing something extraordinary for others.
Bags of food kept “at the ready” to distribute as God leads.
And if you’re thinking like I was, the answer is yes, we can be ordinary people and can do extraordinary things—not complicated, difficult or complex—but simple but meaningful.
Here are five easy ways to be that ordinary person doing extraordinary things:
1. Call upon God’s wisdom to see where He leads you.
2. Connect with His plan to do what He already prepared for you.
3. Choose to have a heart of kindness.
4. Change the desire from doing big, lofty things to simple, meaningful ones.
5. Create a plan, easy to carry out.
And when we do, God will reach for the paper bag of opportunities; the ones He planned specifically for you and me to do, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10.).
Father, as I dash through my day with tasks on my to-do list, help me to slow down and pause to ponder and perform the works you assigned, you prepared and planned for me to do. In Jesus’ name I ask, amen.
• Do you feel extraordinary these days?
• What can take you out of the ordinary?
• Will you act upon the fact that you can be one of those ordinary people doing extraordinary things?
Janet P. Eckles
Coming soon Janet’s new book:
Contagious Courage: Your 30-day guide to Triumph During Dark Times
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