Deflated

Does anyones Monday feel like this? Like you just want a restart do-over. Flat tires are so inconvenient. They stop us dead in our tracks and require us to rearrange and reprioritize our day. You can not go anywhere! You can also have a flat tire emotionally and spiritually. Your body soul and spirit can be deflated. So what do you do when this happens. Do you drive on the rim? So many people are driving on the rim. Sparks are flying as the metal grinds on the cement. The stress and cares of life can leave us edgy and impatient. However, riding the rim ruins the wheel and tire. Trying to keep going when deflated will ruin you. Take the inconvenience and reset. Turn it into an opportunity to reprioritize.

Baby Steps

Does anyone remember the 1991 movie, "What About Bob?" Richard Dreyfuss is a psychiatrist, who writes a book, and helps his patient, Bill Murry, through a process called, "Baby Steps." The idea is simple. Focus on one small thing at a time to achieve small goals which will build to achieving larger goals. It seems simple enough right but it's much harder to actually do. Recently I was considering this whole idea in reverse. When we have goals or habits we do not just one day fall away from them 100%. We make small choices little by little that then leave us far from our desired point. Take gaining weight for example. You do not wake up one morning suddenly 50 lbs overweight. Small choices across a broad period of time have left you far from your desired goal. Now let's consider this with regard to spiritual habits. We can be Christian and not hear the voice of God and feel very far away from His presence.

When God began, in Genesis with Adam and Eve He walked and talked with them in a close personal way. After sin entered the world Baby Step by Baby Step this close personal intimacy with God eroded. In Abraham's time, God still appeared and talked to him. By the time we get to Exodus, we see the presence of God becoming a feared distant unknown. He leads the Israelites by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. Gone were the days of walking and talking with God in the cool of the Garden of Eden. As more time went on the personal distance between God and man increased. Note God had not gone anywhere but the relationship was no longer personal. Only designated prophets and judges had the privilege of the presence of God. Finally, God is rejected, a king is demanded, and a substitute is preferred over the real thing. Baby Step by Baby Step the relationship breaks down till is it relegated to impersonal laws and traditions. God's desire for a close personal relationship never changed we stepped further and further away.

“...a substitute is preferred over the real thing.”

If you have been a follower of Christ for any length of time you will recognize that this same process can take place in our lives. Prayer, Bible reading, and daily devotions can become a habit instead of a relationship. You used to jump out of bed, get up early, and spend time with the Lord and now you find it gets brushed off by the duties of life. You want to hear God speak, but the interruptions of children and the distractions of phone notifications constantly bombard you.

Life happens! Baby Step by Baby Step you get pulled from the most important life-giving relationship. The only way you can get back what you desire is by taking Baby Steps. Don't let the guilt of who you used to be stop you from moving forward today. Don't let comparison of what your time with God used to look like hinder you from having it today in the midst of doing life.

Find moments and make them matter!

God's can show up and meet you with his presence anywhere...

....While nursing a little one - whisper to God your heart

....While waiting at sports practice - put down the phone and read His Word

...While cleaning the house - put on worship music and dance like David

...While Commuting to Work, Working out, Taking a walk, Making Dinner

Take Baby Steps back into His presence. Take Baby Steps toward your goals.

Meaning in the Mundane

Are you an Average person who wants to live an Extraordinary Life? Find Meaning in the Mundane. I know that doesn’t sound exciting but Meaning in the Mundane is where you will find some of the most extraordinary moments of life. Mundane by definition is characterized as practical, ordinary, or commonplace. Tasks that are mundane never seem extraordinary at the time you are doing them. Seasons that are mundane never seem to be extraordinary when you are walking through them. How does mundane become extraordinary? Let me explain.

Let’s look at a financial example to explain this principle. When you save money and you start early in life you enjoy the benefits of compounding interest. Compounding interest rewards your minuscule monthly savings with a massive payout in the end. Compounding interest does the hard work to get you the gains you need. Once you have made the deposit it continues to grow,. If done correctly the payout at retirement is larger than any amount you could have saved for in a lump sum. The mundane task of saving means you have an enjoyable retirement

How about a mom example. You have a baby. They are cute, cuddly and poop a lot. For years, day and night you change their diapers, wipe their too-shies and get peed on as a reward. It's a dirty mundane task but someone has to do it. Then one day it’s time to potty train. You read the potty training book. You purchase stickers, treats, and fancy “big kid” underwear as incentives. You read books to your kids about pooping in the potty! All of this is mundane. Last time I checked there are no awards for moms potty training their children. Yet it is an incredibly important skill. Without it, the world would be a stinky mess! The day arrives and you start the process of training. There is poop, pee, laundry, tears and laughter. Asking every 2 min, “Do you have to go potty?” Sitting on the potty with no results? Finally, it happens your kid goes poop in the potty. Your mundane process has yield a result that every mother agrees is one of the hardest earned rewards. Mundane become extraordinary. During the mundane process of potty training my kids it was not fun. It was downright gross! But now I look back and laugh, those moments are priceless. I am glad I was present for them.

Moments such as these fill my memories. I can say that early motherhood was a joyful time and my children had a happy childhood.

“When I fulfill the daily will of God I will not miss the specific will of God.”

What tasks in your life are mundane. What do you have to do every day? Make a list! Take a moment to reflect on how those mundane tasks lead to significant forward progress. Those commonplace tasks might be laying the foundation for something extraordinary. In the future when my kids are walking in the greatest moment of their destiny, I am going to remind them that I potty trained them. Without me, they would still be in diapers!

Finishing is Possible

God finishes things, and so can I. If you're like me, you always have a to-do list. I've used the Reminder app on my phone. I've used apps such as Evernote and Asana, and in the end, I seem to go back to an old pen and paper format. Keeping a list nearby is a must and adding to it as I remember what I need to do. Each week, I regroup. I move items forward onto a new clean list, and some items I've been moving forward for almost a year. I get satisfaction from crossing items off my list. For every item I cross off, I swear five more new ones hit the list.

I'm always driven to try and finish this list. I've finally realized it just ain't going to happen. One day when I was overwhelmed, God spoke to me and said, "Paige, I finish things. Why can't you?" Boom! It hit me. I began to meditate on this idea. God finished creation. At some point in the process, over the course of six days of creation, he said, "This'll do. I'm done." I don't know, maybe he had more he wanted to create. Different creatures, different plants, but he was done. He stopped, and he rested. God doesn't ask me to do anything he hasn't shown me how to do. God's not asking me to work endlessly and tirelessly without resting.

“Finished Last” will always be better than...
”Did Not Finish” which always trumps...
”Did Not Start”

God wants me to enjoy the satisfaction of completion. He wants us to experience fulfillment in finishing. Yes, there are many processes in life that will never end. In my house, it's going to be laundry. Well, unless we join a nudist colony. Things like meal planning, shopping, and prep, they're going to be ongoing in life, but seasons come and go. Seasons have starts and finishes. Think about the natural seasons. Trees are not in a constant state of blooming, nor are they in a constant season of bearing fruit. There's a season of rest. There's a season of restoration. 

We fail to achieve and complete what God has called us to because we keep adding. Things are never good enough. We keep pursuing perfection, not completion. For God, completion and perfection are the same thing. Think about raising kids. Technically in the eyes of the law, at the age of 18, my job as a mom is finished. I'll still have things that I need to do to help my adult kids.  However, my job of raising my kids will be complete and a new season will begin. It certainly won't be perfect, but it will be complete. I will have to stop and rest in the fact that I did the very best job I could.

After you start a new task, a new calling or a new passion for God, there will come a time when it's done. It may not be perfect, it may not have been everything you wanted it to be. You may or may not have accomplished all that you desired to do, but when a season of completion comes, it's time for us to stop and to rest. Maybe someone else is going to come after you, pick up the unfinished task and take it to the next level. You can reach completion. You can reach a point where you can rest and say, "God, I did my best. I did all that you asked me to do." You can enter into rest knowing that his grace is sufficient.

An Average Person with an Extraordinary Life

Average. Average. It’s not even a fun word to say. It’s bland, lacks luster, and well, average. No one wants to grow up and be average. No one hangs their hopes and dreams on average. No one wants to hear that they are average. To describe something as average implies that there is nothing special, unique, or creative about it. In fact, if you say it enough times, average, average, average, I just might depress you. You might put this down and walk away to something more exciting, less average. 

Average is actually a mathematical term used as an equation to calculated “central” value. Statically average is a good thing. It is a measurement by which we can know where were stand in comparison and ideally show us how we can grow. If you can run a mile in an average of 6:45 minutes, that is a good average. Now if you are trying to beat a 1600 meter Olympic runner your average is not so great and you have a lot of work ahead of you. If you use the word "average" as an adjective, a word that describes a noun, it no longer carries that same feeling that it does when it is just a statistic. No one likes to hear they are an average employee or have average looks. When was the last time someone complimented you by saying, “Hey, you look average today!” 

““Doing Average Well in the Small Things is the Process to Becoming Extraordinary.””

We live in a society where being average is not honored! The dad who gets up every day works hard, brings home a paycheck, it present for his wife and kids, and has the average “dad bod” is no one special. He goes unnoticed and uncelebrated. Honestly, when was the last time you read a biography about an average person. Let's face it we celebrate those who stand out, those with extra special talents that shine and sparkle. Deep inside we all long for the attention and the affirmation that we matter and that we make a difference in this world. The conundrum of this dilemma is that by mathematical calculation the majority of the population must be average. Does this relegate us to a boring insignificant life? I say not at all!

All my life I have been an average person! I am not being harsh on myself or trying to garner compliments, it's just the truth. If I am honest with my self I am an average Joe. In Jr High and High School athletics, I worked hard at practice, attended special training clinics, went to camps and worked extra on the side at home. Most of the time I was on the JV team or sat on the bench. In academics, I studied twice as hard as most and did average. I graduated high school with a 3.5, and graduated college with a 3.0 - all average! Even per the Body Mass Index calculator, I am average in height and weight. However, inside this average human being is a desire to live an extraordinary life, filled with adventure, excitement, and significance. Average skills, average pay, average looks, and average intelligence does not decide the kind of a life you will have. The only average that can hold you back is an average mindset. Join me as we explore how you can be average yet live an EXTRAORDINARY LIFE.