In my last post I wrote about normal. A wise and faithful reader added to my comments by sharing that ‘normal’ comes from the word ‘norms’ which is “an exploration of the behaviours, social values, and ideologies which are always evolving”. So, our “normal” should too. And she noted that in the past in Canada, but still existing in some countries, a teacher training school is called ‘Normal School’ because teachers are trained to teach children the “norms of the day”. My mom went to ‘Normal School’ and I never understood why it was called that so I was grateful for this tidbit of information. As the saying goes … “It’s a poor day if you don’t learn something.”!!
Of late, I have been trying to find a normal rhythm to my new life. As you know I left my position at the church. That meant all those books and files and knick-knacks and very important bits and bobs and pieces of paper I have amassed over the past decades had to be packed up and moved home. My basement has been chaos, as I wade through boxes and try and sort and stow everything in its new locale. I have tripped over stacks of books for the past couple of weeks as I tried to organize my office space to accommodate all this additional STUFF. I know, I know, some of it should be tossed but I also know that whatever I toss is the very thing I will be looking for in the near future. That is just the way of it.
All this has left me thinking about order out of chaos. Creation out of chaos. Spoiler alert … strong Biblical images ahead!! The story of faith, recorded in Genesis, (with parallels found in other religions and creation stories) begins in chaos with God brooding over the waters. What a delicious word – brooding. And out of that chaos and brooding came the creation of day and night, earth and sky and sea, animal and bird. Now, I am not deluded enough to think that I can sit brooding in my office and somehow these boxes will turn into some creation beyond imagining but I have found myself reflecting on what is important, what is valued, what is dispensable and, indeed, when chaos brings about creation.
In my own life experience times of chaos have often wrought something I would never have imagined. It is in the chaos of grief or illness or worry or transition, that strength, insight, self-awareness and sometimes even new life can often surprise us. Brooding, in and of itself, if we stay stuck in the brooding, does not bring about something new, but brooding to a new beginning can be most powerful.
