Finding Purpose in the Ordinary
We live in a culture of scarcity that says we never have enough which leads us to believing we need more. This is called coveting. Coveting says we are not good enough, we are not secure enough, we are not perfect enough, we are not confident enough, we are not significant enough and we are need to be extraordinary to belong. Ordinary has become not good enough and we are being told purpose is found in being extraordinary.
But being thankful in the ordinary is where we find purpose because it's the ordinary that brings us the most joy when we take time to see it. Converting is the opposite of thankfulness. It is seeing what we don't have rather than seeing what we do have. When we focus on what we don't have we feel shameful about it, the belief that I am not good enough and that is who I am. It's an identity that we convince ourselves that that's who we are.
Cancer lead me to value and be thankful for the ordinary things in my life. I was forced to slow down and see them because cancer made me extremely vulnerable. I was vulnerable to death, which in my world was a big failure at just 32 years old! If I died from doing something extremely crazy on my dirt bike then I would not feel like a failure but death to cancer, this for me would be an epic failure.
The vulnerability of death forced me to face my greatest fear - failure. Yes failure, not death but failure I learned through this journey was my greatest fear. We are so busy trying to get enough or be enough (coveting) because we are so afraid we are going to miss out. We are believing the lie that we are not good enough and it will never happen to us.
When everything was taken away from me I realised that I had more than enough and I experienced the greatest joy and found so much more purpose to life during my cancer battle.. Ordinary become more than enough and I treasured those moments. I chose to not see what I didn't have but rather chose to see what I did have. This is something I remind myself daily and don't ever want to forget.
Be thankful today and take time to see the ordinary because you will be amazed at how much joy this will bring you. For me cancer was like finding gold and I thank God for working good out of something so scary.
Mary Wanhill