NORMAL? NO WAY!!!

Being normal seems to be our goal: We want to be a normal parent, wife, citizen. BUT - Have you ever seriously looked at the meaning of normal?

• Regular
• Staying with the general standard
• Conforming with
• Accepted standard
• Corresponding to the median or average of a large group

Have you looked at the synonyms for normal?

• Garden variety
• Ordinary
• Routine
• Standard issue
• Usual

Do you really want to be normal?

I have never been accused of being normal. Growing up I swore I was left on the front steps because I was/am very different from my brother and sisters. I did not conform to the accepted standard of our family. Yes, that did cause a few problems but I think they got over it.

I never fit in during high school either. Somewhere along the line I decided I loved to learn but I hated playing the “act this way to be a part of the accepted group” game.

I was never the normal parent either. I told the kids no and expected them to do their chores/homework without arguing or being told repeatedly. And I did not cry when they went off to college.

Nope, I have never been accused of being normal and that makes me absolutely ecstatic.

Have you ever looked up the antonyms - that’s a 50¢ word for opposite - for normal?

• Abnormal
• Exceptional
• Extraordinary
• Odd
• Out-of-the-way
• Strange
• Unusual

Normal? NO WAY!

You know what - I am MARY! And Mary does not want to be normal! I want to be exceptional! Extraordinary! Besides, I have no trouble with the other antonyms because I am proudly odd, strange and unusual.

God does not want us to be normal either. God created us for great things. God did not say, “Hi Adam and Eve. You are just normal, garden variety, standard issue humans.”

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 1:27, part of 28

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

Do you consider yourself normal? Is that good or just safe? Would you rather be part of the median or average of a large group? Or are you willing to throw off the mantle of normal and strive for EXTRAORDINARY and EXCEPTIONAL?

Take time to talk with God about this and then go forth and be odd, strange and unusual!