Another new "normal"

Normal. hmmmnn. That is what someone wrote on one of my kids' test scores for a check up once. Normal. If you are like me, Normal just doesn't do it for you anymore. What does normal even mean? Average? Usual? Normal temperatures are not even "normal" for everyone any longer. There is now a normal "range". Our post modern culture seems to be getting away from defining everything as a status-quo or bringing anything into a "melting pot" -- and deciding this is the Norm. Wouldn't you just love to have a name like "Norm" just to announce to everyone by your name tag that you are indeed normal! I can just see it, "Yes, my name is Norm! I am Normal because my name says so!" Who is it today that decides what normal is? Who are these experts that state the average status anyway? No one for sure has asked my opinion or polled my family to help decide what Normal actually looks like in flesh and blood! And if I or anyone I cared about were to be in a Normal "line up" to say this is what normal looks like, I would be appalled! John Ortberg in his book, Everybody's normal until we get to know them, says it best when he states, "Everybody's weird....Because we know in our hearts that this is not the way we're supposed to be, we try and hide our weirdness. Every one of us pretends to be healthier and kinder than we really are; we all engage in what might be called "depravity management". In trying to pretend all of the time and striving to be something that we want people to perceive, we can completely exhaust ourselves! And yet, "the yearning to attach and connect, to love and be loved, is the fiercest longing of the soul" (again John Ortberg).

Dallas Willard once said, the natural condition of life for human beings is reciprocal rootedness in others." ...."To make a start where we are, we must recognize that our world is not normal, but only usual at present."

We need each other. We were made for each other. And don't we all breathe easier when someone else stands up and says, "hey, I really need a REAL friend right now --don't you?" No one wants a normal friend, they want a real one. One that loves us so dearly that they can be honest with themselves in our presence and we can then reciprocate and be honest with them and walk away knowing we were just loved by Jesus at the same time. That is what we all look for. That is what we all desire if we are truly honest with ourselves. I am blessed in that I am finding more of Jesus and his love and grace in others these days. For so long, being too full of fear to show the "real Amanda" and becoming too "perfect"--- striving to be someone or something I was not -- "NORMAL". These days, I now know that my Jesus is the only perfect human being that ever walked the planet. AND, BABY, he was FAR from normal. If He loves me, (and He truly and deeply does) then I know I am unique, special and precious in His sight. If the creator of the universe, the painter of the beautiful canvas of life thinks I am precious -- then who can ever tell me otherwise?? Hi -- My name is no longer Normal. It is beautiful.