Every Friday I join a community of bloggers for Five Minute Friday. One word prompt, five minutes. The prompt this week is … Normal.

Somewhere over the course of the last few months, life changed. Things were not the way we were accustomed and our days were drastically altered.

Nothing was “normal”.

We long for the days when we could go out and about freely, without thinking about masks and hand sanitizer. Gone are the days of being able to go food shopping in pairs, meandering the aisles in search of items, and talking with those about us in a friendly manner.

We long for the days when we dropped the kids off to school, knowing they would be able to eat lunch with others and play outside at recess.

We long to gather in churches; go to the hair salon; or eat out in our favorite restaurant.

And we long to hug our families – tight and close, and often.

And we are getting used to what will be “the new normal”. Except it doesn’t feel “normal” at all.

Normal is defined as regular, or natural, or a standard. The problem is none of this feels natural at all.

Sitting and thinking about the use of this word “normal”, one verse came to my mind:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30, MSG)

Here I have found the answer for these days in which we find ourselves living.

We need to keep company with Jesus. It is with Him, and in Him, that we will be able to recover our lives. He is the One who will show us how to do this, to live this “new normal”.

In the midst of all that is being placed upon us,
we will learn how to live freely and lightly in Him.

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
Today I am joining … Five Minute Friday and Faith On Fire and Grace & Truth .