Is Your Life Extraordinary?

 

What is your favorite view?

Is it a sky-high look from an airplane window? A perfect ocean horizon? A night full of stars?

Here in the Northwest, we’ve got some incredible views, mainly because of our amazing mountains and forests. There is nothing like climbing to a brand-new elevation, getting a fresh perspective, and catching a glimpse of something extraordinary.

Do you remember the mountaintop moments in your life? Those moments when you felt like you were at the top of the world and everything made sense? We stumble upon those moments occasionally, but that’s probably not your everyday experience.

Everyday life involves a lot less waterfalls and vistas and a lot more walking, maybe even some trudging. Do you know what it’s like to trudge? You trudge when you know that you have to keep moving, but you’re either too tired or too discouraged to even lift your feet all the way. I imagine that we’ve all done a little bit of trudging in 2020.

When we read in the Scriptures about the men and women who have gone before us, it’s easy to imagine that every day was a mountain top for them. After all, most of the stories we read about these heroes of the faith involve God moving their lives, doing the miraculous. However, there are years of their lives that don’t make it into the books. They had their own share of mundane days.

Take the prophet Elijah for example. When I think about Elijah, I think about a guy who had some serious mountaintops. He faced the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and fire fell from Heaven. Extraordinary, right?

However, that was one day in Elijah’s long life. Most of his days weren’t like that. Most of the time, Elijah spent his time seeking to be faithful to God in the everyday.

You see, faith is a spiritual muscle, and that muscle is built in the day-in-day-out devotion to God. If we’re not lifting weights, we’re not going to walk up to a weight-lifting champ and say, “Hey, lemme take that off your hands.” That kind of strength takes daily dedication. People who are able to reach that level of fitness have faithfully put in the time whether or not they felt like doing it. When the extraordinary presents itself, they are ready for it.

Our spiritual strength isn’t just a burst of adrenaline that happens on the mountaintop. It is built in our every day trudging. When life feels less-than-extraordinary, we are growing. God doesn’t want to rush us through our journey just to show us the view. He wants to do his transforming work in us along the journey.

Brothers and sisters, if you’re not on a mountaintop right now, don’t worry. You are in the company of the believers and Jesus-followers who have gone before, and those who walk alongside you now. So be faithful with the little things that God has put directly in front of you. Trust that the God you serve is at work in the everyday and the extraordinary.