{extra}ORDINARY

It's funny how the smallest of acts, the ordinary, the small things in life can be such a blessing and answers to prayers we don't even know we have. How a snapchat video can turn into two great friends that haven't talked all summer catching up, cementing that friendship in its love of books and adventure. How the purchase of a skirt, a work bag, a colander, tupperware can garner excitement over fear for the future. I love these little ordinary things, when I take the time to appreciate them. 

After Peter and John preformed the miracle of making Beautiful walk in front of the temple, they preach about Jesus' sacrifice for His people, and OVER 5,000 people grew to believe in the Lord. That kind of reaction the temple priests were not to pleased. But when Peter and John were brought in front of these priest they saw the courage these men had {4:13} " and realized that Peter and John were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus". John and Peter were ordinary men who had the courage to speak up. God has this tendency to take the ordinary and make them extraordinary. How encouraging is that? How many little ordinary things happen everyday that are actually apart of His extraordinary plan for our lives. 

One of my biggest guilty pleasures is watching Grey's Anatomy, and Meredith's mom, Ellis, comes out of her Alzheimer's for a day and says that she raised Meredith to be extraordinary, and so imagine her disappointment when she woke up after five years to find Meredith was no more than ordinary. That part has always struck me, is it that our extraordinary looks different than someone else's extraordinary, because Meredith was thrilled with where she was.

Or is it a blurred line, that in your ordinary acts you become extraordinary in the differences you make, like Peter and John did. They did what they ordinarily would do but it was an extraordinary act. In Grey's  Ellis finally realizes that in fact while Meredith is "ordinary" she is also extraordinary. Meredith, Peter, John, they were Extra- Ordinary, they were extremely ordinary. And that made the difference. Definitely encouraging to a grad that's trying to figure out who she is, what bar is next. Maybe the "answer" to the expectations we feel in this world is to be extra ourselves, and to stop answering to all of the 'high preist' we think hold the power.