Look to your left and to your right, what do you see? If you are anywhere on this Earth, you see average looking people. Where are the billionaires and the beauty queens? The elite and the elected? Where are the people with the photographic memories and the people that can run 20 miles an hour?
Today I would like to talk about being average. Average looks, average smarts, average speed, average cash flow. If you look up the average salary in the USA or the average weight or the average IQ or the average amount of money saved, you would be surprised.
You might think to yourself, “Yeah, but I don’t want to be average.” I understand that we each have talents but there is always someone better. I understand that we depend on our income, but there is always a way to spend less. I understand that we are all trying to live our best lives, but what if your best life has been defined by your struggle to be above average.
Most people are average. That is, by nature, the definition of the term. If you are in the struggle to stay above average every effort you make is a step that defines you. I am an athlete. I am a chef. I am a teacher. These titles come from above average capacities, each one at a cost.
Is it healthy to always push yourself past average? Is it healthy to always be striving for more? Is it OK to be average?
I am OK with being an average student, an average wage-earner, an average teacher, an average sister, daughter, even mother. I am not OK with having an average relationship with God. In that area I want to excel. That is what I want to define me. That is where I want to put my effort. There with Him.
It is a blessing to be able to shine and feel great about the talents we have. Those God given capacities that serve an unspoken purpose. But don’t let the areas of your life where you are average bring you down. Let them instead guide you to exactly where you are supposed to be.
