Glimpses of Truth

Normal and Average!  Who, Me?

It seems as though everyone I know has had as their favorite subject for the last 6 or 8 weeks one particular thought:  “It’s Hot.”  Yes, it’s been a little on the hot and humid side, but guess what.  As I write to you today, I’m told that by the end of the week we will be in the low 80’s.  That’s 20 degrees lower than just 2 weeks ago.

The weather is always changing.  It always has and always will.  It’s just that we hear, 24 hours a day, all the extremes that take place somewhere in the world every day.  It sounds as though there is nothing “Normal” or “Average” anymore.  Yet, there would be no Normal or Average unless we took the highs and lows and averaged them.  But, the Normal and Average don’t make much news.  There would be no “News Alert” flashing on our screens if there were no extremes. 

Today we want things faster, smoother, sharper, clearer, quicker, slicker, richer, healthier, smarter, prettier, fancier, neater, fuller – just better.  I don’t know where to stop this other than to say let’s stop.

Are you Normal?  I’m not.  Just ask my wife or the folks who work with me.  I try sometimes to be “abi-normal” and fulfill every opportunity.  Have you ever heard this little proverb?  “Four things come not back – the spoken word, the sent arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.”

But, I think we understand that “opportunities are often disguised as hard work.”  That’s why I don’t even make the normal list some times.

Robert Browning said, “Man was made to grow, not stop.”  David Livingstone said, “Fear God and work hard.”  I don’t know if those statements are Normal or Average in today’s society, especially during such a hot summer.

Harry S. Truman once said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”  It’s been hot.  My water bill has been high – help! 

Help me be normal if normal means steady, dependable, true, honest, kind, considerate, forgiving – see, I’m not normal, at least most of the time.

Sometimes I’m on a mountain top and sometimes I’m in a valley.  So I guess if you average, then – hey, I just might have a chance to be normal-- typical most of the time.  The expected?  Well, maybe not.  Nevertheless, I am responsible for me!

Daniel Webster rightly said, “The most important thought I ever had was that of my individual responsibility to God.”  It’s the only way to be Normal and in the will of God.

Would it have been normal for my neighbor to have fed his chickens chipped ice during this hot weather?  Maybe.  That is, if he wanted to prevent them from laying boiled eggs.  Ha!  Okay, I’m not normal.