A Normal Day
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I’m celebrating a normal day.
For those of us who struggle with the ups and downs of a chronic pain condition—no matter if it’s daily pain or problems with a medical issue, whatever—the struggle can really get you down. But oh, what a blessing, what a joy, what a reprieve it is when you experience just a normal day. It happened to me earlier this week. I’d been in a long season of battling one physical hardship after the next, and you put pain on top of that and the fact that my right arm seems to be getting weaker (I cannot pronate my hand like I used to). And I felt like my nose was just above water, and I’m thinking to myself, Will these problems never end? But later this week, I headed to work and realized, Oh my goodness, I’m not having problems with the way I am sitting today, and it’s mid-morning and my hip and back feel fine, and my arm even seems to be stronger. By late afternoon, I was rejoicing over the amazing God-blessed gift of a normal day. And if you wrestle with a chronic condition, don’t you love when that happens? Don’t you love the ever-so-rare but wonderful normal day?
A poet, Mary Jean Irion, wrote about it this way. She said,
“A Normal Day! Holding it in my hand, it’s more than an ordinary rock. It is a gem, a jewel. In time of war, in peril of death, people have dug their hands and faces into the earth and remembered this. In time of sickness and pain, people have buried their faces in pillows and wept for this. In time of loneliness and separation, people have stretched themselves taut and waited for this. In time of hunger, homelessness, and want, people have raised bony hands to the skies and stayed alive for this.”So Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, savor you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it will not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth or bury my face in the pillow or stretch myself taut or raise my hands to the sky and want more than all the world for your return. And then I will know what now I am only guessing: that you are, indeed, a common rock and not a jewel, but that a common rock made of the very mass substance of the earth in all its strength and plenty puts a gem to shame.”
Don’t you love that? That little bit of prose, it’s so biblical. It’s so like Psalm 90, verse 12 where the psalmist prays to God, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” If we only numbered our days, we would see how precious this 24-hour slice of time really is; this slice of time that God has given us. And what tops it off is that His mercies are fresh and new toward us each morning when the day begins. So whether it is going to be an oh-so-precious normal day or another day filled with pain or disappointment, it still is a gift. Any day is a gift from God.
And remember, if you deal with a chronic condition, you’re not alone. In fact, let me send you a free copy of my booklet, “No Longer Alone” written just for those who struggle with the isolation that often comes with pain or a disability. It’s yours for the asking at joniandfriends.org/radio. And next sunrise, celebrate the day, would you? Whether it be normal or not. Thanks for listening today on Joni and Friends.
© Joni and Friends
