With the recent coronavirus pandemic and quarantine, so many are asking, “When do we get back to normal?”
Normal. So what is this thing we call “normal?” Normal is defined in the dictionary as: conforming to the standard, or the common type; usual, typical, expected; average, or the typical state or condition.
Normal can also be what we get used to, what we have adapted too, or what we have settled for. Your normal and my normal may not be the same normal. We may have adapted to different things, or settled for a different lifestyle. So when the question, “When do we get back to normal?” is asked, it may be answered in a number of ways, depending on who you are talking to.
For a large number of people, prior to the quarantine, “normal” meant running from the time they got up, until the time they went to bed. Appointments, assignments, agendas — more to achieve than hours in the day. More boxes to check than we could possibly get done. And yet, this was “normal.” So many places we had to be and things that could not be missed, but suddenly we found out that we didn’t “have” to be so many places, and certain things could be missed. We realized how quickly our established routines could be changed.
Many were running as a little hamster on their wheel, moving as fast as their legs would carry them, but getting nowhere fast. And this was “normal.” Our usual, typical state, this was our life.
So, when do we get back to “normal,” and will there be a “new normal?” Depending on your definition of normal, for a few months we may be looking at a new normal. Perhaps it’s time to rearrange some priorities and create a new normal. As we have become so focused on running on our wheels, could we possibly have missed some important things on the journey?
Suppose that our “normal” and God’s idea of “normal” for us, is totally different? Is it possible that we have settled for a lifestyle called “normal” that is far less than what God desires for us? Could we have, ever so slightly, drifted into a routine that we labeled “normal,” but in actuality is “abnormal?”
There is an interesting verse in Psalm 23, that I continue to be reminded of. Psalm 23:2 says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still, or quiet, or peaceful waters.” I don’t know about you, but for me the image of green pastures and quiet, still, peaceful waters, create a setting that, personally, doesn’t seem that I would have to be “made” to lie down in. And, yet the Psalmist says, “He makes me lie down.” For such a beautiful, lovely place, why would I have to be “made” to stop there?
It is easy to get caught up in the rat-race, hamster-wheel world that we live in. The more we do, the more that is demanded of us. The faster we go, the more behind we get. Perhaps we would do well to take some time and consider what is “normal” for us. It may be that our normal, is not at all, the normal that God has designed for us. Maybe, just maybe, God is making us lie down in green pastures and leading us beside some still, quiet, peaceful waters for us to rearrange some priorities. It may be that in this quarantine, God has a Word for us. I think we would do well to listen to what God may be saying, and if needs be, make some adjustments in what is “normal.”
Don’t miss the message in the mess, and remember, with God, a waiting season is never a wasted season.
When do we get back to normal? Could be a few weeks, or maybe a few months, I don’t really have the answer to that. I don’t know about tomorrow, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I’m —
Still Believing!
Good word!