Demolishing Normal
Normal.
Is there really a normal? And if so, what is it?
Whatever it is, we tend to define normal as good/best. Some call it the American dream. Women tend to define normal as getting married at some point in our 20's, ending up in a job we are proud of by the time our HS reunion roles around, and at some point owning that house with the white picket fence with 2.5 kids running around the yard. But what happens when that doesn't happen? What happens when your life isn't "normal?"
Growing up I had this expectation of what my life would look like when I turned 30. Why shouldn't I have had that expectation? I was just expecting what was normal! Be that as it may, having this idea of normal led me to believe that my life was sub-par when it didn't turn out that way. That now, because the normal option hasn't happened, I must now make the best of what I've got - live a plan B, instead of my desired plan A.
Normal is an illusion!
The God of the universe, the God who sees all, knows all and created all, is writing my story, your story! Therefore the story we are living out is not just the best that we can make out of what remains of normal, it is the best! Period. My life may not look normal, but I will embrace it! I will be proud of it! And I will live it with purpose, guided step by step by the Author of my best possible story!
Scripture tells us that God is good, that He loves us, has good gifts for us, and wants us to have an abundant life. If I believe this, which I do, but then fear having a conversation with most people because I don't want to admit that I'm 31, unmarried, and living in unknown, then my belief has not penetrated my heart, and I'm buying into an illusion instead of God's truth, and who wants that? I don't!
"We feel His love for us even - and dare I say especially - in the way things didn't work out according to our plan. With his love sitting in our souls and writing our stories, we feel His affection through how our lives look, not in spite of it. We don't feel He's forgotten us; instead, we feel He's weaving our narratives with intentionality, taking the bad and turning it inside out, remaking us through pain in the redemptive way that only the loving God of the universe can do."
-Grace Thornton, I Don't Wait Anymore
Is there really a normal? And if so, what is it?
Whatever it is, we tend to define normal as good/best. Some call it the American dream. Women tend to define normal as getting married at some point in our 20's, ending up in a job we are proud of by the time our HS reunion roles around, and at some point owning that house with the white picket fence with 2.5 kids running around the yard. But what happens when that doesn't happen? What happens when your life isn't "normal?"
Growing up I had this expectation of what my life would look like when I turned 30. Why shouldn't I have had that expectation? I was just expecting what was normal! Be that as it may, having this idea of normal led me to believe that my life was sub-par when it didn't turn out that way. That now, because the normal option hasn't happened, I must now make the best of what I've got - live a plan B, instead of my desired plan A.
Normal is an illusion!
The God of the universe, the God who sees all, knows all and created all, is writing my story, your story! Therefore the story we are living out is not just the best that we can make out of what remains of normal, it is the best! Period. My life may not look normal, but I will embrace it! I will be proud of it! And I will live it with purpose, guided step by step by the Author of my best possible story!
Scripture tells us that God is good, that He loves us, has good gifts for us, and wants us to have an abundant life. If I believe this, which I do, but then fear having a conversation with most people because I don't want to admit that I'm 31, unmarried, and living in unknown, then my belief has not penetrated my heart, and I'm buying into an illusion instead of God's truth, and who wants that? I don't!
"We feel His love for us even - and dare I say especially - in the way things didn't work out according to our plan. With his love sitting in our souls and writing our stories, we feel His affection through how our lives look, not in spite of it. We don't feel He's forgotten us; instead, we feel He's weaving our narratives with intentionality, taking the bad and turning it inside out, remaking us through pain in the redemptive way that only the loving God of the universe can do."
-Grace Thornton, I Don't Wait Anymore
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