Being exceptional has absolutely nothing to do with what surrounds you and everything to do with what’s in you. I think it starts with your character and how you express you. But are you aware of what you do? Do you express your uniqueness… especially as how it defines your exceptional-ness?
To expound a bit on this. ‘Surrounds you’ is defined in my world by status, accomplishments, fame (even the in-famous), fortune, exterior to the person though perhaps supported or initiated from within. Not unimportant, just not as important. ‘In you’ are those intrinsic demonstrations of your character, who you are, how you go about being you, and your why. In other words – the most important parts of you… at your core. All the rest emanates from the core. It’s the external evidence.
Remember the old admonition that you can fool some of the people, some of the times… etc.? Why bother putting up a façade when the reality is so much better and you don’t have to worry about maintaining the same persona with the right person. You do realize that you’re not in competition with someone else – yes? You’re not trying ‘to be better’ than someone else. If you are comparing then it should be against yourself. God has given each of us our measure of faith, the gift(s) He wants for us and placed us perfectly in the body according to what He has decided – and that’s truly the best. I dare to suggest that if, after you’ve been saved, you are focused only on you, that you’ve missed the point (Jesus) and exceptional will never be who you become.
Yes, ‘exceptional’ is spoken of in the scriptures… but not often – 5 times. You read it in 3 places in the Old Testament and 2 in the New, at least according to:
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/ but that doesn’t make the word unimportant. The simplest definition is that exceptional is beyond average. Then again… who wants to be ‘average’? (Remember that ‘average’ is an external determination – if you are doing all that you can, it can never be defined as ‘average’.) With a bit more attentiveness and effort, can’t we turn our ‘average’ to ‘exceptional’?
13 years ago I wrote a blog post that made it into one of my books that was called – Be EXTRAORDINARY
“Never forget that if you try for extraordinary and don’t make it, where you arrive is going to be definitely higher than ‘ordinary’. Don’t misunderstand, ‘ordinary’ isn’t ‘bad’ unless it’s less than what you are capable of accomplishing. Even in a limiting situation you are in control of what you learn, what you discover, how you refine what you do and how you can do it. Others can
attempt to limit you but only you can decide to accept that limitation.In the last analysis, you are the only one who can determine if your effort is extraordinary or not because you are the definer of the word. But extraordinary is something that is exhilarating when you do attain it. It is a defining moment.” [3-13-13]
Remember that the only one that defines extraordinary, exceptional is you because only you know who you are and whose you are and what you can do. On your own… never, but in partnership with the Lord… everything. And that’s truly the point – partnership. For some they never realize that partnership is available and never achieve their goal. But for those who realize that everything is always enhanced with the help of the Lord do achieve… exceptional.
