I don’t really know where this post is going to go, I just feel like sharing with you all…
This month has been crazy, loud, chaotic, amazing, interesting, eventful, and so much more.
This month has been a soap opera.
Even better, it’s been a soap opera in a different language, Afrikaans.
Just the other night I thought a full on brawl was about to break out. The only thing I could figure out was that the conversation was about a hair trimmer. I was sitting there wondering what was so special about this hair trimmer that people would feel compelled to fight over it.
Then after the whole “confrontation” ended we were told that no one was mad or upset and they were just having a normal conversation.
My reaction was normal?!? That’s NOT normal…
Then I thought of a soap opera, any soap opera, where the most trivial things are acted out. Or should I say over-acted out. And let me tell you, I am not a fan of soap operas, they are so loud and dramatic. I really just don’t like that type of setting even if it is just on TV, but I’ve found I like it even less in real life.
Then I realized that, in this culture, that level of intensity in any conversation is totally normal and expected. When I think they are fighing it out, they are, in all reality, having a perfectly polite and normal conversation. This month has been full of so many times like the hair trimmer incident, I have had a huge learning curve.
Times like:
One person sitting alone in a room with the TV turned up to full volume
Two people talking in (really) loud, emphatic voices about the weather and news of the day
One person listening to music at full volume at 2am with people (us) trying to sleep on the other side of an unfinished wall
Driving around at 6:30am with a bunch of people sleeping and music blaring through the mini-bus’ speakers
21 boys ages 7-21 living under one roof
When I first experienced these things and others like it I didn’t know what to think, frankly I was more than a little annoyed. It’s not MY normal. It’s nowhere near MY normal. But then it hit me…
I don’t want MY normal.
I want, and have prayed, to be shoved out of my comfort zone so that I would grow in myself, my relationships, and my faith. That is exactly what God is doing right now. He has taken “normal” away so that I will seek Him over anything and everything else, and I’ll tell you what, He has done a darn good job. This month I have prayed more, read my bible more, and in turn grown more in my faith than ever before.
So I pray that God will take me out of my comfort zone even more so that I will only have Him to rely on. I pray the same for each person who might read this. I pray that God would rock your “normal” so that you might dive in deeper with Him.
Live your own soap opera.
