THE WORD “NORMAL” is such a precarious word. It implies that something is right or correct simply because it is what we are used to.

The definition of the word NORMAL is:

“Conforming to the standard or the common type; something that is

USUAL, REGULAR, NATURAL OR AVERAGE.”

OR

“Serving to establish a STANDARD.”

Do you see the common thread between these defining words?

Each produces a standard by which we can be comfortable and in control…

REGULAR, NATURAL, USUAL, AVERAGE!

Predictable, simple and uncomplicated!

If we are not careful these threads can connect and create a web that we can find ourselves stuck in!

STUCK…have you ever felt stuck?

It’s like your feet are in mud and the harder you try to pull them out the more stuck you become. The mud has somehow turned to cement and eventually we just stop trying to pull our feet out. We are stuck!

If we look at it from the scenario of the threads that we weave around and around and create a Web, think about a spider‘s Web. The entire purpose of the web is to catch something until it is so stuck that the spider can capture it, stun it, and use it for food.

I don’t know about you, but I never want to become that stuck!

God cannot use us when we are stuck. As a matter of fact, if we are stuck we may be a hindrance to God using others!

In Ezra chapter 3 verses 12 and 13 we see the Israelites have returned from captivity and have begun rebuilding the temple. After following God‘s instructions, laboring and working very, very hard someone begins to weep. It is one of the older priests, and several other priests join in and the weeping gets louder and turns into wailing. 

“But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundations of this temple being laid, while many others shouted with joy.” But no one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise and the sound was heard far away.” Ezra 3:12 & 13

“IT’S NOT LIKE IT WAS BEFORE!”

“I MISS THE WAY IT USED TO BE!”

“THAT’S NOT THE WAY WE DO IT!”

Sound familiar? 

It’s “THE GOOD OLD DAYS” mentality!

The problem is, the good old days are gone and a new day is here!

While it is wonderful to keep them as a memory and even learn from them, we cannot live in them if we are to keep from getting STUCK! 

We must learn to embrace the NEW!

I don’t really need to define the term NEW. At the mention of it some of you may jump up and down and some of you may get shivers up and down your spine and freeze! 

The definition of NEW does include the unfamiliar and the strange…but it also is defined as “BRINGING INTO BEING AND APPEARING FOR THE FIRST TIME!”

Like a newborn baby, or a brand new temple. If we do not embrace the new, the old will simply crumble around our feet! 

NEW babies have to be born for a new generation to come, and new buildings must be built to replace the old when their time has come and they can no longer stand!

That’s why I like the term “NEW NORMAL!” It helps ease me out of the old and into the NEW! It’s like God is gently taking my hand and encouraging me that while something may be new and different and challenging it can also be fresh and exciting! To me it implies consistency even amid the change.

I have a “NEW NORMAL!” It is not wrong, bad, or anything in between, IT IS JUST NEW!

My eye is different! It is repaired and I can see! I am praising God for His goodness and mercy through all of it! But it is also “unfamiliar and strange!“

My nearsightedness is better and my farsightedness is worse. But God is doing a NEW THING! This is my NEW NORMAL! 

TRUTH BOMB

WE CAN EMBRACE A “NEW NORMAL” WHEN WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT GOD IS IN IT!

NEW can bring excitement with a touch of anxiousness.

NEW can bring adventure with a bit of anxiety over the unknown.

NEW can also bring freshness to something that has grown stale!

NEW can offer hope to something that has become hopeless!

NEW could be exactly what God has chosen for me and you because He loves us and knows it is exactly what we need!

I am learning a NEW NORMAL and a NEW lesson! God has taken something old in me and he has made it NEW. I am learning to embrace it and adjust. My prayer is that my eyes, not just my physical ones but my spiritual ones, are also opened to the other

NEW areas in my life God wants to take me to!

I am sensing some of them, and I am praying for God to open up the others to me! I know that there is no other way to grow except to embrace the NEW and not get stuck in the old!

In my next series I am going to talk about areas of being STUCK.

I know I have them and maybe you do too? I hope you will join me back here as we embrace the NEW NORMAL together!

Speak Truth Love