A NEW NORMAL! 5/29/10

Memorial Day for most has become a 'new normal' for many. We have heard this phrase bantered about this past year because of the recession, the economic decline and/or the depression, not to mention the odysseys of those holding office within our government. Our local news calls it 'living in the new normal.' However, since Lynn's passing, his family and his siblings are now beginning a 'new normal.'

You can go on the internet and type in 'The New Normal' and learn all you ever wanted to know about it. Beginning new normals is not easy, when it comes upon you without your being willing to change. However, when we plan for the change the new normal is welcomed and we are excited about it. Whether it is getting married; having children; moving to a new place or into a different house; a new job or career can all be classified as a new beginning or 'the new normal!'

As a child, when we moved from Iowa to California we began a new normal. When Jim and I moved from California to Oregon, we began a new normal and even more of a new normal when we moved to Klamath Falls. And so it goes! Everyday can hold many new experiences that changes our daily routine and can be considered our 'new normal.'

March 1st of 2008 I suffered a heart event. At least that is what they kept calling it. We usually say; heart attack! They put a stint in an artery that was 80% blocked. Upon my recovery I discovered I had energy that I had never had before. As a blah morning person where I did what I had to do, I was moving about doing what I had to do and things I didn't think about doing until they had to be done. I didn't realize it right away but Jim and I both began to take notice of my energy level, especially in the mornings. I was living a 'new normal' and didn't even know that my normal before was perhaps abnormal. I just knew I wasn't a morning person!

Have you been there? Abnormal, I mean! Before you became a Christian you belonged to the world and when you became a Christian, the scriptures say you became peculiar; abnormal in the world. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:1-2

After March 2nd I began living my 'new normal' because the blood was flowing easier through my arteries to my heart giving me new energy. When Christ suffered on the cross over two thousands years ago, his shed blood gave us the opportunity to have a new life which gives us a 'new normal' to live free from sin. "Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4

God has promised us a 'new normal' life when we walk with Him because; "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." Romans 6:8 Sometimes I feel like my new life in Christ becomes routine and doesn't feel new but just normal. However, there is nothing normal about walking with Christ. Just like an old chorus of my childhood; "Everyday with Jesus is sweeter than the day before! Everyday with Jesus I love Him more and more!"

I don't know how you feel about the 'new normal' but this Memorial Day is another 'new normal' for me, as I remember the passing of Lynn and the reunion he had in the promised land. I am thankful that I know the Father through my Savior, Jesus! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 5/28/10