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Good morning, DearHeart.

Liv loves little calves. We all do. They are signs of a normal spring for us. Back when life was normal …

well, time has changed our days more quickly than anyone would’ve thought possible. In the blink of an eye, everything was different and nothing was normal.

School days are remote. Getting groceries means gloves and mask. Work days are done at home, or not at all for some. CSC guidelines slide into our days. This is a new territory that we trod.

“Do you think we will ever return to normal?”

Lately, my line of thought lingers on the fact that life will be different from now on.

Our earthling skin wants life smooth and safe. Orderly. Suddenly, any sense of control has slipped away, and in its place reality settles that we were  not ever the ones in control at all. Colossians 1 reminds us of the Savior who reigns over us all: “He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation in His hands” (verse 17, NLT). All creation for all time is in His hands. His hands alone.

We are utterly dependent on God for all our needs and staying connected to Him is vital. Paul warns against disconnection from Christ and tells us, “For he holds the whole body [of Christ] together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it” (Colossians 2:19, NLT). As we stay connected to Christ, and other believers, we guard against becoming undernourished and depleted. Dependent we will thrive and grow.

“Will life ever return to normal?”

Yes. We will return. Normal? Well, who’s want that? That’d be way too boring, anyway.

Perhaps, though … perhaps we will return as a changed people, a people walking more closely with our God and each other. May we pray for one another.

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” Colossians 1:9-12 ESV

Wake up.

Held together by your Creator.

New normal.

Go.