I heard a song on the radio the other day that I haven't heard in probably a decade: "Ordinary Average Guy" by Joe Walsh. The song originally came out in 1991. My life looked a lot different then. I was 25, had long hair with bleached out tips, and I was nowhere near being mature. I remember thinking how crazy the lyrics of this song were because nobody really just wants to be an ordinary average guy. Why settle for ordinary?
Since then my perspective about life has changed a great deal. I'm fifteen years older, I have short hair that isn't bleached out, and I'm a tad more mature than I was way back then. And I no longer think that a person is "settling" for ordinary. In fact, I think ordinary is beautiful.
Here are a few of the lyrics from the song:
We all live ordinary average lives / With average kids / And average wives / We all go bowling at the bowling lanes / Drink a few beers / Bowl a few frames / We're just ordinary average guys
The song goes on to talk about working in the yard, picking up the "dog do," taking out the garbage, cleaning out the garage, and owning certain types of cars--all quite ordinary things, but beautiful nonetheless.
The way an ordinary man is supposed to interact with his ordinary wife and ordinary kids gives us a faint glimpse into the way God interacts with people. And the way ordinary friends interact while bowling and drinking a few beers unites people the way that ordinary acts often do. Working in the yard, cleaning up after pets, taking out the garbage, cleaning the garage, and driving ordinary cars make up the essence of many of our days and in their own ways, each ordinary task adds meaning to our lives.
Imagine what life would be like without the ordinary. Extraordinary events would be the ordinary, and then what would we look forward to?
