What is Normal?
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12
If you’re from a dysfunctional family, feeling different and somewhat isolated is probably part of your emotional makeup. Most of your life, you’ve received double messages: “I love you; don’t bother me. Always tell the truth; never share family ‘secrets.’ Your future’s bright; you’re hopeless.”
How can anyone make sense of this? Which message is true? Chances are you probably believed both messages, and were confused as a result.
A friend of mine, raised by alcoholic parents, always asked, “What’s a ‘normal’ feeling or reaction to this problem?” Guessing at what constituted normalcy was a recurring theme for him.
Another friend described his relationship with his family of origin like this: “Either I’m crazy and they’re normal, or I’m normal and they’re crazy.”
Start with this: “Normal” is knowing that God loves you, right where you are. . . just as you are. You will never bother God by going to Him; and God is a God of hope. . . a God of second chances.
“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.” - Tom Clancy (1947- )