It seems she was right.
All of us who were old enough to catalog 2020 in our memory banks long for what we used to call "normal." But it appears that we will only find it in the laundry settings.
2021 began with a chaotic national inauguration and continued with apocalyptic snowstorms for parts of the country. States struggled to dish out COVID-19 vaccines and shoppers continued to haggle with their masks while e-learning days and Zoom meetings rerouted the family week. It is an era about which we will tell your grandchildren - "I lived through the coronavirus pandemic!"
As winter begins to wane in tiny ways and we dare to look at spring styles and long for tulips and green shoots in the flower bed, we also start to hope for just a little bit of normalcy in our daily lives again.
We want to be able to go to church with all the people who used to attend before sickness changed things. We want to experience unity in our family and friend relationships and not worry about the issues that those in politics keep saying are dividing us. We want to focus on little things like new recipes and summer shoes and when to have a yard sale. We want our aging relatives to be free to enjoy life again. We want the threats in our lives to vanish. We don't want a new normal; we want the old one.
Maybe it will help us if we keep Patsy's words as a mantra. "Normal" only controls us if we let it. No one knows what God will allow to shape the spring and summer of 2021, but attitude will help us manage it.
Philippians 4:7 tells us that "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
A woman who has keeping peace in her heart and mind can truck through both normal and abnormal because she knows the One who sees the end from the beginning. And it is His intention to bring us out into a good place. That's the best possible normal ahead of us!
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