What is Normal

My kids have been joking the last several weeks about being normal. One of their favorites is the old line from Ann Landers "Normal is a setting on your dryer".

During a road trip earlier this week I had some extended time to think. I was thinking about normallity when we stopped at a rest stop for a bathroom break. My youngest daughter who has many special needs has an unusual fear of toilets. Everytime she has to use a toilet in a new place she has several questions; "Is it a clean toilet?, Is is a noisy toilet?, Is it a scary toilet (does it flush automatically)?" There have been times that she needs to go so bad that she can barely make it into the bathroom, but then she stops at the door and starts screaming that she can't go in its too scary.

I was sitting on a bench waiting for my wife and thinking about my daughter's fears. I was contemplating some of the things about my daughter that cause me to fear. (Will she be able to function in the world with this fear of toilets? Will she find a place in our culture? Will she be taken advantage of because of her openness to people?) I tried to turn my fears over to God and they kept raising their head.

Then God gave me this to think about:

My daughter is not "normal" because of her strange fear of toilets and also because of her complete lack of fear of strangers. The truth is that my daughter is closer to what God made all of us to be. Adam and Eve would have jumped to hear the sound of an automatic flushing toilet. They would have been disgusted by the sounds and smells in our highway restrooms. If God had put another human being in the garden of Eden with them it would have never occured to them to be afraid. They would have known that it was safe to be in relationship with God's creation.

Now I know that as a loving father I must guard my daughter from some people, who because of sin and ugliness in the world can not be trusted to honor the beauty of my daughter.

However, I long for the day that God's kingdom is redeemed completely and we no longer hide from each other and fear each other. I am know that for me the first steps to bringing the kingdom is being willing to take risks to be hurt myself. I must love and trust other beings knowing that some of them will abuse my love and trust. That is one way to get back to the what God intended where our biggest fears are about strange sounds and things that don't fit not the people who are brothers and sisters.