Friday, October 22, 2010

But That's Our Norm

Everybody has them.  It's their personal pace in life, the measure of strength in handling what life throws back at them.  Everyone has struggles.  Everyone does life as they have to in order to get things done.  It's their norm.

I don't know how many times I hear people say to me.... "I don't know how you do it!"  Do what?  I sometimes look around and think, do you know what other people are doing?? This is nothing.  This is "nothing" to me because it's become our norm.  It's what I know I will have to deal with week in and week out and most of the time we can cover it all without too much stress.  God equips us for what He calls us to do.

What is our norm?  4 kids. Homeschooling 2 of them. Part-time job at the church.  There I summed it up in 3 little fragment sentences.  I will admit that many times it's easier said than done... but who's life isn't.  We all have obstacles to negotiate on any given day.

I've never had a huge tragedy strike my immediate family.  My husband has never lost his job.  My children have been healthy.  My support team has been large.  And most importantly, my God is bigger than anything.  In the great eternal perspective, if my kitchen doesn't get cleaned or my kids don't do math today... big. deal.

Many, many, (cannot emphasize that enough... many) folks have higher mountains to climb... and while there are stressful seasons (no denying stress - we would eventually die without it I think)... for the most part, they will eventually rise to the challenge and one day will also be caught off guard by a well-meaning soul that says, "I don't know how you do it!"  Because this life that they live day in and day out has become their norm.

Every once in awhile something will throw us off our equilibrium but we're built to adjust, get right back on that ride and try it again until it works.  If you're in the middle of a life transition - just remember that when you project a year out from now this whole scene will look totally different.  Especially when you reach out for God's help, you will again figure out your norm.  He is very faithful.

1 comment:

RK said...

Once again (I sound like a broken record!)... Amen, sister.

It's always fun, though, to have people look at my norm and just think I'm crazy for LETTING it be my norm. Nice how people offer those opinions sometimes...