Creating Our New Normal

If you do what you love, you will not work a day in your life. Why is this wisdom so hard to follow? Back in the late seventies, God led me to my passion. I have not worked a day since then. I have had days when I didn’t like what I had in front of me, but I would not trade my lifetime chasing my passion to avoid a few bad days. The problem is, I loved my passion to the point that early on, I would forsake other obligations to pursue it. What I did, overshadowed who God wanted me to be. I was living the wrong life.

The advice I received one day when I was investigating an elbow pain, stuck with me. “It is not the weight you lift, but how hard you grip it.” If I wanted the pain to go away, I didn’t need to reduce the weight but relax the grip. Don’t lower your effort, relinquish control.

God sometimes takes things away so we can either appreciate what we had or give us clarity to see what He wants us to have. Many of us are in that position right now. We now have an opportunity to create a new normal. As we reengage, we can reinvent our rules of engagement. How big a deal is this for us?

Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

I don’t believe God creates chaos; I believe He uses chaos.  He uses our fallen world to achieve the goals of His Heavenly kingdom.

Acts 10:34-35, “Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”

As we became polarized by the upcoming election, as we became dysfunctional and distracted by worldly views, along came the pandemic. But we are not that easily pulled off of our bias and prejudice; we politicalized the pandemic. The world darkened into lockdown; all of our daily routines were rearranged, our family vacations where rescheduled, relationships were strained, and even our eating habits had to be reassessed. But it wasn’t enough. As tension grew from this new paradigm, frustration reined. Riots broke out over racial injustice and inequality. God uses this time to get us to appreciate what we have or see what He wants us to have.

Colossians 3:10-11, “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

God wants you to reassess your priorities. He wants you to take this time to hit the reset button. Hear what God wants you to hear. Feel what God wants you to feel. Don’t recreate the past, but build a new future. Even the Israelites were tempted to go back to slavery rather than face the uncertainty of freedom.

Jeremiah 29:11, ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

There are relationships we don’t like, but we don’t care enough to change them. Maybe we have an attitude about work that needs to be improved. Do we have problems communicating the way we feel, perhaps the way we eat is not as healthy as it should be, or we shop when we should save? The new normal does not have to be the same old normal; it can be better.  Maybe we should start making those changes now.

Hebrews 12:14, “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

As the world reopens for business, we have a chance to create a new normal. We have an opportunity to start anew. We have an opportunity to live a Christ-centered reality. This moment may be a once in a lifetime opportunity, don’t waste it.

Joshua 1:9,“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”