November Here
“What is Your Normal?”
Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his Son.” These words by Henry Smith are in my head this morning as it’s one of my favorite praise songs. My cousin in Florida texted me the words of a church sign that she read today, “We do not need more to be thankful for, we need to be more thankful for what we have.” Can the whole church say, “Amen”?! Last week a friend of mine told me about her exchange “kids” from Brazil and how they marveled at the colors in the fall. You see, their trees don’t change colors. They even asked her why the leaves fall off because that doesn’t happen where they live. They took many pictures of the fall season to bring home with them when their time in Michigan was over. My friend gave me permission to share this story with you because it is a story of awe and wonder regarding something that we largely take for granted, because to us, the change of seasons is just our normal. What a beautiful normal it can be, if only we let it.
What is your normal? Your normal may be in a home, apartment, or assisted living center. Your normal may be spent in warmer weather while the rest of us prepare for cold and snow to come. Your normal may be different somehow from last year. Your normal may now include family or friends that you didn’t have last year. Your normal may be missing some family or friends from prior to today. However, it may present itself, for today, it has become your normal.
So, what’s wrong with normal? God works miraculous stories of awe and wonder into the lives of everyday normal people. The Bible is chock full of these testimonies through which God did extraordinary things for the works of His Kingdom on earth: Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Gideon, Joseph, Mary, Saul, Peter.
As we roll into this year’s holiday season, we start once again with being grateful for each of the 30 days of this month. I would suggest that a place to start might be with whatever your normal is today. What could be easier? Once again, I encourage you to find one thing to be grateful for every day so that you might encourage others through your tweets, your Facebook posts, your greetings with those you come into contact with.
Let us fill this month with high praise for our God-given, normal lives! I will start by saying that I thank God for each of you who have taken the time out of your busy day to read this newsletter piece.
Happy Thanksgiving Blessings,
Pastor Bev
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