The Search for "Normal"

Over the last few weeks months  years we have often commented to each other, "Maybe life will return to 'normal' when _______ " To this day, life has never reached that searched-for normal. As I sat at the computer tonight, feeling exhausted from balancing parenting and home life with ministry involvement and fundraising for our adoption, I found this blog post from Sally Clarkson, the author of several parenting books including Mission of Motherhood which we studied last year in MOMS group. She writes:

“Jesus’ work in a person’s life has always begun with a call to leave behind the goals, purposes, and distractions of this world and to say yes to a whole new life, a new way of thinking. “Follow me” is what He told the disciples as He recruited them. And they did, abandoning their fishing nets, their tax-collector’s moneybags, their permanent homes, their everyday duties and pleasures. And they never went back. Sure, they still did a little fishing from time to time! But once they made the choice to follow Jesus, their lives were forever changed. They never returned to ‘normal.’

I think this is vital for us to keep in mind as Christians and as parents. We know we are called to follow Christ, to take His message to the world, to raise our children to heed Jesus’ call. But sometimes I think we fail to consider that following the Lord might mean leaving behind the ordinary and the familiar. It means exchanging a temporal view of life for an eternal goal. And this may mean leaving behind things we really care about–involvements and pursuits that seem important and worthwhile but may not be God’s best for us.

Part of giving the gift of inspiration is helping our children understand this–and perhaps reminding ourselves. To fulfill God’s design for their lives, our precious children must at some point determine to give Jesus allegiance in every aspect of their lives. There is a cost to discipleship, and that cost is everything!” ~ The Ministry of Motherhood

As we follow God's call on our family to adopt, our days and nights have been filled with completing paperwork, reading book requirements, and sending emails--all in between cleaning up the day's third spilled cup of milk, fundraising, and ministry involvement. We have started to search desperately for "normal" again. We long for those elusive quiet evenings at home filled with popcorn and movie nights, football games, and homemade milk shakes. We long for an entire day to get some projects completed in our home. 

How often we forget that following the Lord means "leaving behind the goals, purposes, and distractions of this world and to say yes to a whole new life, a new way of thinking." When we said "Yes!" to the Lord, we essentially said "No!" to the ordinary, familiar, temporal, and even enjoyable things of life that were not God's best for us. 

If you've already answered the Lord's call to "Follow Me," are you, like us, finding yourself distracted searching for the normal in life? Instead, may we count the cost of discipleship, say "Yes!" to Christ, and embrace the "whole new life" we find in Him!