Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Normal

A long time ago I realized that normal is hard.
Choosing to do the right thing time after time is difficult.

Everyone wants to be normal.
Not everyone wants to make the hard choices that normal requires.

You grow up in a house of yelling and screaming.
Do you yell and scream at your own kids?

You hang with people that drink and party.
Do you smoke weed? Do you drink when you should be studying?

You have a good job that pays pretty well.
Do you call in sick and use any excuse to get out of working?

You are married and sometimes it is difficult.
Do you work through the issues or get divorced?

You have small children at home.
Do you spend time with them or set them in front of the tv?

You have children in elementary school.
Do you help them with their spelling words and math homework?

Do you spend time sitting with the kids and talking about school?
Or do you enroll them in any and every activity so they will be "busy"?

You have kids in middle school.
Do you make them do their homework or let them go to a friend's house to play?

Do you take them out to dinner as a family on the night of the dance?
Or do you let them go to the dance because everyone else does?

Do you let them do their own schoolwork and sometimes fail?
Or do you do their hard projects for them?

You have young adults in high school.
Do you encourage them to try sports and new classes?

Do you attend their sporting events with food, water and encouragement?
Or do you send them off to sports events with no support?

Do you encourage them to get good grades by giving bonuses and rewards?
Or do you yell at them for bad grades?

Do you make them follow the house rules, even when they yell at you?
Or do you let them ride with that kid from school?

Do you cook healthy meals and sit down to eat?
Or do you run and get fast food and eat in the car?

I know normal is hard.
I chose to live a normal life a long time ago.

I found these Bible verse that support being "normal" or "ordinary"
What about you, are you willing to take the hard road for normal?

Acts 4:13
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Job 1:5
When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.


 
Jeremiah 5:24
They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’


Acts 10:2
He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave ge
nerously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

 
Acts 26:25
“I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you, Beth, for your courage to write wise words and for using the Acts verse to remind us that sometimes the world knows when we have been with Jesus. Ordinary and right are good.

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  2. Liz,
    Thank you for your encouraging words. I think "Normal" is hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it!!!
    More writing this month and less quilting!!
    Love,
    B

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