How much would you pay for your life?

“Wait! Don’t answer yet!”

I enjoy watching infomercials. I really do. It’s not about buying anything that they’re selling. For me the joy comes from the showmanship, the performance of the presenter. We’ve seen some iconic pitchmen on late night TV over the years. Ron Popeil and Billy Mays alone have sold tens of millions of dollars of merchandise to a public ready to spend money on products that they never even thought they needed.

How do they manage to sell steak knives to people who already have a drawer full of steak knives?

They make the ordinary extraordinary.

RESHAPING PERCEPTIONS When I listen to Ron Popeil, I feel the passion for what it is he is presenting. He creates an excitement rooted in a deep conviction that his product is significant, meaningful, and purposeful. His conviction creates the energy that motivates us to want what it is that he represents. What we thought to be ordinary suddenly appears to be extraordinary.

It’s amazing what passion and conviction can do to reshape our perceptions of a steak knife.

I works the same way with life, too.

Sometimes we stop being excited about our life, about who we really are. Some have never allowed themselves to see anything worth getting excited about. We unknowingly allow ourselves to see ourselves as ordinary, and we live with as much enthusiasm and passion as we’d expect living such a so-called ordinary life. All because we’ve simply forgotten what makes us all extraordinary in the first place.

DIVINE PARADOX Extraordinary can be a frightening word, especially when you’re challenged to use that word to describe yourself. Extraordinary implies that some things must be simply ordinary. Through comparison and judgment we allow both to exist. We set parameters and establishing a hierarchy.

But when it comes to humanity, there is no such hierarchy. We are all extraordinary.

Paradoxically, the only thing that could be considered ordinary is the fact that all of us by our very nature are extraordinary.

Imagine for a moment that Ron Popeil had to present you to the world. Yes, you, the infomercial. What would he have to say? More importantly, what would you have to say about you, the most important person you will ever know?

AWE & REVERENCE We all have been given an extraordinary and unique set of talents, gifts, and abilities which only we can bring to life and offer to the world. “But wait, there’s more!” Our very creation is divine evidence of our significance and magnificence. Our sanctified lives are meaningful and purposeful, or we simply wouldn’t be here, would we?

The key to it all is reminding yourself of your own inherent significance, and to develop a humble awe and reverence for your very being. With this conviction a new energy is created which transcends the feeble idea that you are ordinary.

It allows the ordinary to become extraordinary once again.

The moments of your life are far too precious to be spent thinking of yourself as anything less than what you really are.

Extraordinary.

Embrace your magnificence.

It’s a great day to be you!

photo: Lynn Cummings