A New Normal

Hi! Remember me? No reason you should but I've been out of it for a bit. I don't want to bore you with old man surgery stories but I haven't had the energy to write on this blog. Thought I'd try one today about my new normal.

I will never be what I was, physically speaking, but truthfully none of us will be will we? I just accelerated the process. So, I have to adjust to a new normal. I haven't figured what all that means yet, that part of the new normal is still in process. I do know that the new normal is slower, weaker, a little foggier in the mind at the end of the day and gets fatigued more easily. The new normal can't touch folks as readily as I once did. But these may change again to a new, new normal in time.

My new normal is smaller by roughly 50 lbs. Clothes don't fit and the world doesn't yield to my touch as it once did. Some doors are very heavy to open now. Some packages I cannot lift. My new normal takes a lot of medicine and supplements. My old life was pretty simple- when I ate and what I ate; when I slept and how I slept; what I enjoyed and took for granted; what I wore was grab and go, now I have to find what kinda fits; when I went and how I went and how I got there.  I am so much better off than so many with deadly and debilitating diseases, but I still grieve my old, simple normal life. I had a presence in many places with many people that is no more.

Is there anything good about the new normal? Yes, as a matter of fact there is. The new normal requires intentionality. I have to think about what to do and if I can do it and how long I can do it.
The new normal requires a different way of measuring time and commitment especially with people, work associates and doctors.

This is often a frustration, but when applied to one's relationship with Jesus the new normal and its priorities actually enhance the relationship. In fact, all relationships benefit with the new normal causing you to prioritize time, energy and focus. My new normal helps me see more people struggling with their own new normals. It has helped me see the struggles of others through my own struggling eyes. The new normal hasn't added time to my prayers but it has added  a width and a depth that wasn't there, at least I didn't see it.

And that is the bottom line, the new normal helps me see things differently, not always better, not worse necessarily, but differently. I see that the Lord Jesus is the Lord of all our normals but our normals are not His normal. He obviously works in, through and with our old ones and new ones but his normal for us is Him; His character as ours; His love as ours; His service and commitment to justice as ours.

There is much about my new normal I don't like but even Jesus has a way of using it to get me to His normal and this is how it should be.

May we live for and aspire to the day when we are all normal like Jesus.

Cos