On Christmas Eve, my 6′ 2″ son, granddaughter, and I stood at the base of the Sentinel Tree in Sequoia National Park.  If you look at the picture very closely, you might see us standing tall beneath this tree. You’ll have to look very closely.

Someone who knows all about the Sequoia trees wrote on a plaque beneath this tree, that, although very large, the Sentinel is just an average Sequoia.  Some are much larger and some  are  smaller.

Walking the path through these trees which have stood for thousands of years, have  survived  storm, fire, and man’s desire to cut them down, I am inspired.

I’m inspired by averageness.  If most of the trees I pass are either smaller than average or just  average, then average can be pretty spectacular.  Average takes my breath away.  Average is stately and beautiful.  Average stands tall.  Average has longevity.  Average withstands the storms of its environment.  Average knows the assaults of those who would destroy it and yet survives.   Average invites me to look up.

I experienced holy moments in that forest on Christmas Eve when I realized that God chose a young woman who had a heart of love to be the mother of Jesus.  So on Christmas night, a couple of thousand years ago, when some of those Sequoia trees were just sprouting from the ground, Jesus was born because God in heaven trusted an average young woman. An average young woman who was stately and beautiful.  Who stood tall.  Who withstood the storms and assaults of the people in her world  who wanted to harm her and her baby. Who invites me to look up far beyond the leaves on the top of the Sequoia tree and thank God that he can still use average.

I think being average is pretty good.  Maybe even spectacular.

Ruth Vander Zee
Author of WOMAN MEETS JESUS
Journey of Faith