“What is Normal anyway”.......

A young man comes home from school one day.  It’s the end of the year and time for summer.  Time to relax and not think about the things that come with school.  

When this young may is asked by his Mom how he feels about school, this is his response, “I just wish I was normal”, “It would be so much easier if I was like the other kids”.  

Knowing this Mom like I do, I know that her response of her son was one of tender understanding and love.  She met his heart as she has done since his birth with affirmation and kindness.  She reminded him of how special and amazing he is and proud she is of who he is right now.  She did not hide the truth and in many ways he is different, but that his “different” was perfect for who he is. And most of all, she reminded him that he is not alone.  He is loved unconditionally forever.   

When I heard this, I thought about the daily struggle that we all have in this same place.  I confess that not a day goes by when I don’t ask the very same questions that this young man has asked.  But like most people, I have been too afraid to say it out loud.  I have stuffed it into a place where I don’t have to think about it or feel the residue that comes with it.  Unlike this smart young man, I don’t give voice to those places where I struggle with comparison to “normal”.  I am not as brave as he, but I wish I were.  I wish with all of my heart that we would all feel as safe as this young man does in his Mother’s heart.  He knows and trusts that he can say whatever is on his heart, whatever he is struggling with.  He knows that even if she does not have the answer to his struggle, she will listen.  His heart is safe with her.

Here is our challenge then if we are all willing to take it.  

To be brave and say the things that we struggle with.  Be real about those places where we feel a lack.  Do that first in our own hearts.  And then, when we have found those who will hear and not judge those places where we struggle, talk it out.  

When another comes to you or I with a struggle or a place where they just don’t feel they fit in, let us pursue love.  Be like this young man’s Mother.  Quick to listen and slow to speak.  Walking in love and not judgement.  Speaking life and not death.  Reminding them that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made”.  That God knew them and loved them while they were yet in the matrix of their Mother’s womb.  

And... in the end... what is “normal” anyway, but just another way to compare one person to another in a way that makes us feel better.  I personally would rather be unique like this young man, than a carbon copy of what others describe as “normal”. 

I will take his kind of honestly toward life any day.