Treasuring the Ordinary

Five Minute Friday is when you spend five minutes writing on a word (Lisa Jo Baker gives a word each Friday) and lots of people write their thoughts on that one word. The Rules are... you write for five minutes without editing, and then publish it. And then you absolutely comment on the person before you who wrote.  So here is today's...

Ordinary

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Ordinary, it is a scary word for me. Who wants to be ordinary? I remember a mom at church telling me all she wanted for her kids was that they live an ordinary life. It would be so much simpler for them. She did not want anything fancy or great for them or anything really horrible, just an ordinary life. I struggled with this because as a mom, I honestly wanted something fantastic for my children. I am the mom who wants my kids to not just do gymnastics, but to be on the Olympic team. I was pretty sure there were signs when my daughter danced that she was meant for a great ballet company. I could not imagine wanting something ordinary. All I could see was them with this awe of a mother, the kind that things there could be nothing greater than these children and the world MUST see them. But then I started to think about ordinary and normal. The odds are my kids are not joining the Olympics or the New York City Ballet. They probably will not even do any of the sports they do now in five years. They are young and learning and trying new things. But, thinking about it now, I can see the good of the ordinary. They have the chance to be excellent in the ordinary, to be satisfied and content in the day to day. These are the moments that matter, the ordinary ones, the ones that are not fancy or special, but the everyday moments when lives are changed, and children changed. These moments are the ones that win hearts. I am learning to enjoy and treasure the ordinary moments because when they grow up they won’t be that ordinary, they will be treasured special moments. The ordinary cuddles that start the day and the ordinary books that we read over and over, those are the moments that make memories and set foundations.

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