Abnormal.

That was the one-word description I read when I checked the medical app a couple of weeks ago.  I had received an email informing me the doctor had posted the result of my recent procedure, so I thumbed my way through the sign-in process to get the good news.

It was what I was expecting.  Good news.  I’d like to believe I’m not a perpetual pessimist, expecting the worst all the time.  Still, I wasn’t shocked to read the word I found there.

Abnormal.

There was nothing else, except a reminder of an appointment with the surgeon in a week.  On the day of the Vernal Equinox.

It seemed appropriate.  The end of a season.  The beginning of another.  Both on the same day.

One, I have grown to detest.  The other, I love.  The reader will no doubt draw their own conclusion as to which is which.

I waited.  Concentrating on the word, abnormal, I waited.

I had an inkling of the meaning.  Last year, a similar procedure yielded the word precancerous.  Now, this follow-up procedure had yielded a new word.

It’s funny, the things one’s brain will jump to, given time.  And, I had plenty of time on my hands.

Abnormal is the opposite of normal.  Somehow, we prefer the latter to the former.  It seems odd, because we don’t really care for average, which is surprisingly similar to normal.

Next, my mind landed on the word I may have been searching for in the first place: peculiar.  It is a word which twins abnormal rather well, don’t you think?

We think of peculiar as meaning odd, or strange.  That’s the same as abnormal, is it not?

But then, there’s another definition that says peculiar means belonging exclusively to one genre, area, or person.

And, that’s me.  Perhaps, you too.

The Fisherman who came to be known as The Rock gave us the description a couple of thousand years ago.

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9,  KJV)

This kind of abnormal, we can lay claim to.  If we follow Jesus, we belong!

Forever, we belong.

And, in spite of seasons that end and change, there will always be new beginnings.  We have the bright hope of life with our Creator that goes on forever.

Which brings me back to my opening thoughts.

On the day of the year when darkness holds sway for an equal amount of time with daylight, the Vernal Equinox, I went to see my doctor again.

I had prepared for the day.  I trust in a God who heals as well as saves.

I had left the abnormal in His hands.  I freely admit, I wanted it to be normal but I was ready to accept what came next either way.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t sit in the parking lot and let the tears flow as I communicated with the Lovely Lady afterward.

Normal.  He said I was normal.

I’m grateful for the changing seasons.  For darkness that turns to light.

Endings always lead to beginnings.  Always.  I don’t know why I continue to be surprised by it but yet, once again, I am.

And, I do know I’m still peculiar.  I hope you are, too.

 

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
(Ephesians 2:1, NKJV)

“(Spring) is a natural resurrection, an experience of immortality.”
(H D Thoreau)

 

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2023. All Rights Reserved.