Everyday numbness doesn't produce greatness

"Everyday numbness" is a phrase we coined when a period of our lives (about 18 months ago) consisted of getting up at 6:15, leaving the apartment in the dark by about 7:15, walking past the same shops, same people, same smelly dogs, squashing on the metro, then past the same overflowing rubbish bins, onto the same mini bus, teaching at school, then back the same way, trying not to miss our metro stop cos we were asleep, and arriving home in the dark to cook, read emails & sleep.  It all just felt a little too like "The Truman Show" but in a dark, cold place.  

Greatness, on the other hand I think is something we all aspire to.  That our lives are not wasted but that we do toil to produce something that lasts beyond the normal everyday grind.  I was reminded this week of some of the heroes of our faith.  People like Amy Carmichael, William Tyndall, Margaret Wilson, and John Huss whose biographies and stories were my childhood food.  I grew up wanting and knowing that my life was to mean something like these people.  Maybe my name won't go down in the annals of history, but beside each person that does, there is another 100 or more standing alongside them that are relatively unknown, but no less great.  

So how do I bring the two together when my outworking doesn't match my potential?  I have been mulling this over for awhile now and have come to the following three conslusions...

Transcension

Earning money & going to work is a fact of life.  Short of going on a benefit, robbing a bank, or winning lottery most people accept this. But my work doesn't need to define my life.  About a week ago I wrote about some different movies I have watched that inspired me. I was also reflecting on the movies Julie & Julia, and Copying Beethoven, and how that greatness comes from when you rise above your everyday numbness and circumstances and see beyond them. Your job then, can become a means to an end and you can pursue your dreams and visions that make life purposeful and meaningful for you.  So transcend -- float above the ordinary!
Education
Stretching, growing, learning, inspiring and stimulation all help to keep you from slipping into numbness.  As we have pursued extra study, and turning our brain on we have found that growth and change promotes a more positive outlook and healthier perspective.  Life is a journey on which you should never stop learning. A quote someone gave to sum this up... "Dont go through life -- grow with life."
Dictatorship
Life has a way of dictating to you, this is the easy road.  We are beginning to learn and see that we need to take charge and dictate our lifestyle.  We are thinking about jobs that don't lock us into a 9-5 mindset, but where we set the times, motives and tones and that it fits into our overall goals and dreams.  
We are veering onto a path/mindset that will see us take seriously the dominion mandate, with a eco-friendly home, growing our own meat/veges, controlling our use of plastic (see "Addicted to Plastic"), the cultural mandate, (see "Total Truth: Liberating Christianity From It's Cultural Captivity") with being leaders in our profession and community based groups, and the great commission where we seek first God's kingdom and purpose to disciple people along this same path. These values require planning, evaluating and decision, we need to dicate life, not let it dictate to us.


God has called us to be wise stewards, so when 'everyday numbness' calls I'm going to tell them I was meant for bigger things!

Everyday numbness doesn't produce greatness