For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. | John 1:16
Over the last few months, I have found myself wanting things to go back to normal. I know that I am not alone. As I pondered this desire, it has led me to question what normal is.
If we define normal by what is most common to all people, then the life we live as Americans is far from normal. We are more prosperous than the world has ever known. If normal means some sort of mean wealth through both space and time, then normal is far less than what I have. This is not the normal that I find myself longing for.
The normal that I miss is ‘things as I had gotten used to them being.’ There is a way organizing all of life’s rhythms and habits that help form the structure of life. Each one of us settle into an order of things based on what we are comfortable with and how it works for us. This makes ‘normal’ neither good or bad, it is just normative. Normal just means how things happen to have been for a short span of my life.
It is also important to remember that this ‘normal’ is not something that we deserve. The Bible makes it clear that what humans deserve is punishment. We have rejected our Creator over and over again. Each and every good thing that we have is a grace: an undeserved gift. This makes the life that we have become used to a pile of blessings.
What I think of as normal is an immensity of privileges. These are not things I deserve or what many others get to experience; they are simply life as I have gotten used to experiencing it. While I have no desire to embrace a new normal, especially as it applies to gathering with family and friends, I am also more aware of my blessings than I have ever been. Having some of the blessings removed has made me more acutely aware of how large the pile of God’s goodness in my life is. I am not saying that our love for God should be based on how much He gives us. God is not good because of what we get from Him; He is good and we happen to be blessed by Him. The grace upon grace that He gives should never be underestimated.
If it takes a tough year to be confronted by how kind God is, then 2020 is a good year. I pray that God uses the discomfort of this year to shape us into a people who can declare with Job:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” | Job 1:21
As you sit down to eat tomorrow, whatever that looks like, remember God’s overwhelming goodness. AND GIVE THANKS. Happy Thanksgiving.