Greatness

I talked to these cute people last night. Mainly my cute Grandma because that cute Grandpa of mine has a strict bed time. 

"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

My Grandpa is certainly all of those things, so maybe I should start going to bed early too! If only we could all be like my cute Grandpa. 

I love talking with my Grandma. I don't do it as often as I should, but I like to reach out every once in awhile to let her know that I am thinking of her, that I love her, and that everything she does for our family is greatly appreciated. 

My Grandma is a funny duck, well actually, all the women in our family are funny ducks. We are all stubborn as heck, we all like to be noticed and funny and loud, and we most certainly make sure we beat everyone at everything because we are the best. 

Humility is definitely something that runs in the family.

Last night as I was talking to my sweet cute Grandma, I got pretty overwhelmed with how good I have it. I remember posting something years ago about the greatness I come from and the long line of great people that have come before me. That post came into my mind as I heard all about my Grandma's day, the latest and greatest with everyone in the family, and most importantly, her TiVo.

You don't have to accomplish great things, you don't have to fly to the moon, or be the first to discover the cure for cancer... But you do have to live up to your potential as best you can. You do have to wake up every day, proving to yourself that you can make it better than the last. 

I come from a line of great people. I come from a line of great people who have accomplished great things in life. Thinking about that, thinking about what they've stood for, I cannot help but be overwhelmed. I can't help but think of the climb ahead of me to reach their heights, to claim their glory and carry on this line of great people. 

But last night I realized that greatness, though high in glory and hard to achieve, comes only from the actions of small and simple things. Greatness comes from loving your family, respecting and honoring them and their potential. Greatness comes from pushing yourself to excel in areas of weakness. Greatness comes from the acknowledgement that there are weaknesses within you, that there are things that you could improve upon. 

Greatness comes from smiles, it comes from laughter, it comes from those incredible hugs. 

You do not have to do extraordinary things, you just have to push yourself to be extraordinary, to be your best possible self. 

So yes, there are great people ahead of me in my line of heritage. There are people who have crossed the Atlantic by boat, people who have built great companies, people who have cooked better than anyone. There are people with degrees, people who fought in wars, and strong willed mothers rearing their children. 

But most importantly, there are people who have centered their lives around Christ. There are temple worthy members, full tithe payers, and humbled members who continually are found on their knees. 

There is greatness in this family of mine. 

There is greatness, not because of what they look like on paper, but because of the small and simple things within their hearts.