The Elegance of Workmanship

Some pastor once said to a room full of college students that most of us, in not all, would be nothing but ordinary. The chances of us being exceptional or extraordinary were slim. He went on to say wonderful things about how living an ordinary life is great and you can do great things in the ordinary, but I didn't care about any of the good he said. I realized that day that my biggest fear was to be ordinary.

People dream of marriage and kids and white picket fences. Security is the name of the game. But I want more.

I want to do great things and meet great people. I'm afraid that if I turn out to be ordinary, that means that I didn't do enough or I didn't try hard enough. The most awful thing about my fear is that I'm not extraordinary at anything.

I'm a jack-of-all-trades. I can do many things acceptably. While this is my favorite thing about myself, it inevitable scares me that it's what will doom me to an ordinary life. I'm screwed.

I have to be okay with being ordinary. I have to be okay with becoming old and wise. Regardless of who I become, I'll have great stories to tell and maybe being exceptional isn't all it's cracked up to be, right?