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Between Normality and Wonder ...

Wednesday, Nov 11, 2015. As people of faith we are somewhere between a normal life and a life full of wonders. Sometimes we feel like it is normal only, and we are missing the wonders. At other times, it all seems to be wonders only, one big wonder, and wonders over wonders day by day. How to bring this together? What is our life like?

Normality …

I think that God has given us normality as the basic setup. We all have our environment. We can act, we can think, we can plan and carry out plans. We have words to say, other people around us, friends and enemies, good and bad people, complicated and simple characters, … that all is normality.

It is also normality that we are born, that we grow up, that we struggle, that we have to find our path, that we search for partnership, that we have kids or struggle with having kids, that we get ill occasionally, that we have particular personal difficulties on some level, and that we die at some point. All this is normality, and no one can avoid it. It applies to all, people of faith as well as those who do not have a particular belief.

It is also part of normality that we have religion and that it is questioned. God is hidden, and there are strong spiritual books in all religions. Some people respond, some people are critical. There are strong atheistic lines of life, and have always been (in some times hidden). People question God, and it is not necessarily bad to ask what type of image of God is the correct one. All this is part of normal life, of normality.

Wonder …

There is God, and the message which has been spread by Christ Jesus. There is the holy spirit, active ever since, and active today. That is part of Wonder. You could also call it normality due to the fact that God has always been, but since many people live without God, the normality of our world is that we live in an environment where wonder is special.

But God is a God of wonder. Even creation itself is a deep wonder. I call wonder where we get into an attitude of surprise, adoration and admiration. It is where we see that we understand some parts, but most of the processes and things fantastic. Even if we can model and describe and predict a process, it can appear full of wonder to us. Creation is full of wonders!

But more than that, God is active in our world. He is there, and we can experience his wonders when we live in faith. That is truly a wonder, and it is something which does not belong to normality. On the other hand, it is normal for people of faith to experience wonders. And indeed, even if you are somewhat critical: as soon as you trust God and fully concentrate on his love and grace, wonders come. It is great and to some extent surprising, but true. When his wonders come, our heart is filled with grace and joy. ... more texts