When I was a kid, I would watch the show Boy Meets World. Sometimes, I could relate with Cory Matthews as he was a little awkward kid with curly hair. Sometimes, I could relate with Shawn Hunter, who seemed always to have a comeback or a coolness about him. Or occasionally, I was Minkus, brilliant but not always appreciated. Regardless of all the differences between each character, they always returned to their love and appreciation of each other.
But I recall one time I was watching Boy Meets World, and suddenly, breaking news interrupted the show. I don't even remember the breaking news; I remember how bothered I was that they would interrupt the show. It was an episode of Boy Meets World College, and so much was going on, but I was interrupted by breaking news.
This interruption lasted a few minutes but was too long for me. But finally, they said those magic words: "You may now return to your regularly scheduled program." And in my mind, the episode would pick up where I was, but no. Instead, I had missed so much in that interruption; I was so mad.
The memory of this hit me recently. I had been going to sleep later than usual and thus waking up a little later than I would like to. But, finally, I could get a good night's rest and wake up at 6:30 am. As my alarm went off and I was getting up from bed, I heard the voice of that reporter, "You may now return to your regularly scheduled program."
But I can recall that day when I was watching Boy Meets World, and the news interrupted the program; I did not go back to my regularly scheduled program because there was so much I lost of the story that I just changed the channel. But that's TV land; in real life, who wants to return to the regular?
Life's experiences shouldn't lead you back to the regular; they should take you to something new. Even if I had to walk through the valley of the shadow of death to get to the destination, why would I expect the "regular"? Why would you want to go back to the "regular"?
The word regular comes from the Latin regula, which means "rule, straight piece of wood," or "move in a straight line." Here lies the contradiction; we often say we want to take the road less traveled, but then we want a regular mundane experience.
After hearing those words, I woke up that day and said, "Nah, I cannot go back to the regular." I refuse to return to the standard life experience; I want something new, more significant than what I have already experienced. So, I quickly moved in that direction.
As you read this, are you settling for the regular edition of your life instead of exploring more? The mundane, the regular, the straight line is nice, but your creator made you for something beyond the regular.
I recall some years ago, driving down a street with a hospital, I looked to the left, and as I looked out the passenger side, I saw a cemetery. My daughters were in the car, and one of them spotted this. It was interesting because, on the one hand, the hospital is filled with people with hope. Still, on the other hand, you have people in the cemetery who can no longer do anything, and there we were, driving down the road heading to our next destination.
We find ourselves on a road where we must make a decision. We can either settle for life's mundane, the regular edition or dare to dream big and aim for more. But this road is between two realities, much like I was driving down the road where to my left was the hospital and to my right was the cemetery; we have to navigate between these two realities: life has an expiration date.
After a few weeks of irregular sleep, I woke up that day and heard the voice of that news reporter say, "You may now return to your regularly scheduled program." I replied nope, not me. I refuse to go back to the regular; I will continue to push beyond the regular. My biggest fear is stagnation, but I realize my second fear is the mundane. I will not settle for the regular edition of life, and neither should you!