This evening while watching the Olympics I encountered the Dunkin Donuts commercial, “The Usuals,” which features several regular customers ordering “the usual.”
I realize that having the usual beverage at your favorite coffee place or usual lunch at the restaurant you frequent regularly is common behavior. So is driving the same route to reach your workplace each day and sitting in the same pew (or chair) for worship each weekend.
Something Else
I’m not against enjoying the usual elements of life, but realize that doing so makes me more apt to function on auto-pilot and not really think as deeply or look as closely as I otherwise might. Sometimes I need something else – something different than the usual. And, this means I must choose to take another look, make a different choice, or travel another path.
So What?
Over the last several weeks I visited the construction site where the space allotted for windows was typically covered by boards. During my usual walk throughs I learned the space quite well. When the wood came down and the windows were installed, I realized how little I had really seen and how limited my perspective had been.
Sometimes, change forces us to move away from the usual. Hopefully, however, many times choice also leads us to do something other than the usual.
- Share the most recent time you opted for something other than your usual, and what you learned as a result.
- Share one of your usual religious or spiritual habits. What is one way you might vary, expand, or deviate from the usual during Lent?