For those that know me, I’m sure it will surprise you that this suave and debonair person you know was once awkward and insecure. Ok, maybe it won’t surprise you at all.  In a previous lifetime I was a middle school teacher and principal and people would ask, “How can you deal with kids that age?”  Probably because I could see part of myself just like them – awkward and insecure and searching.

I was listening to a sermon by Jason Locy and he used the phrase awkward normalcy. It seems to have so many applications.  How do you deal with grief?  Well, there are difficult stages that later become an awkward normalcy.   How do you transition into a new job or new relationship?  Well, there’s the evolution from what you’ve known and how that fits into the new and it there’s a time of awkward normalcy.  What happens when your family adds a new member through marriage or birth or other events?  There’s a period of awkward normalcy.

The church we are currently attending had people fill out cards with what they are struggling with and the pastor read a stack of them out loud.  It was sobering.  Marriage issues, depression, loss, insecurity, doubt, physical ailments…    And I kept thinking, this is just a fraction of the real list.  So within our church group or work group or social group – how many of us are in the midst of an awkward normalcy?

I feel blessed that I’ve reached the age that I care less about being awkward. My quirks are part of who I am, but don’t dominate my life.  I am fortunate to have a great family and have the security of a good job.  But at our root, it seems we all have some level of being in the midst of an awkward normalcy.