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#13 Naturally Normal: a conclusion

  • Writer: Christian D'Andre
    Christian D'Andre
  • Jul 12, 2024
  • 4 min read

Updated: Feb 14

This has been a fun series to write. I hope you have enjoyed the wild journey we have been on. And if some of this has felt mildly disjointed, I apologize. I had a big chunk of stuff that I wanted to explore and I may have gotten carried away trying to fit it all under one banner. You see, many of the things I talked about apply to more than just an ordinary life. Any life worth building upon will take some work. They all take some building of sorts. You may not see it right away, but the fortress will build as time progresses. But only if you put the work in to make it grow. 


But this life of permanence isn’t necessarily going to be a part of everyone’s story. I think of musicians as an example. While they can build a beautiful life with some hard work, much of the life of a musician is a roller coaster. They might spend one week on tour, and the next at home with the family. It’s a beautiful life, no doubt, but it’s far less consistent than most. 


But even the most simple and ordinary of lives must be prepared to face the occasional disruption, like my cat who had to take a moment to smear his face on everything I own, including my nose. Expecting your life to be perfectly rigid will drive you mad, as it started to do to me. It’s perfectly alright to want to live a life of the plain and the simple, but when all of your well being depends on how rigid you can be, your passion has become an obsession. 


Everyone is shocked to hear me say it, but I have come to accept that a little disruption can be a good thing from time to time. Like how I will be going to the movies this evening (a monday, mind you,) to see the third Lord of the Rings movie. It’s foolish, it’s unnatural, it’s inconvenient! But you know what? Moments like these are the spice of life. Not all of them were meant to be this way but when those disruptions come, we should be prepared to embrace them. Dear God, I praise you for all the moments I haven’t missed. Thank you for laughter at the cat’s assertiveness, at the blue cars I keep buying, for the nights staying up past my bedtime to write these posts. I praise you for all the irregularities that my obsession hasn’t robbed of me. I am truly blessed indeed. 


And that’s my prayer for you: that you not be so wound up in what you think you need that you miss out on the opportunity to make the most of your life. I pray you have the grace to laugh when life doesn’t go as planned, that you learn the means to build a castle where a tent once stood. I pray you are blessed with the wisdom to build, and the means to get it right. For there is no better way to live than within the walls of your fortress, safe and sound where everything within is your playground. I pray you find the means to build, accepting the walls that still need to be raised, to place the bricks in secure places, and to have the patience to not rush through the project. For this project is your life, and it could last for generations if you simply learned to build it right. 


But this is not a call to perfectionism. No, the wall will see wear-and-tear through its years. That’s normal. The difference is that it won’t be wibbly-wobbly. Your relationships will grow deep because you’re committed to good things. And if they end, they will end in a way that makes way for something bigger and better. Life may not seem like it at times, but if you begin to build it right, all those moments drenched in deep ick will redeem themselves for glory. And at the end of your days, you will look back in peace at all the good that has come to pass. 


At the heart of the ordinary is the love of permanence, and permanence is able to withstand a lot of life’s changes. So invest in the things that matter and the rest will orbit around you as they were meant to. You may lose some of those things for a season, but they will be back. And when they are, they will be sweeter than ever, because you will be able to enjoy them properly. At the end of the day, an ordinary life is a beautiful thing, no matter what anyone says.

I pray you have learned something from this series, and that it has made some shred of sense to you. If it hasn’t, you’re more than welcome to come yell at me and we can figure it all out together. I pray for you always and I love you

Until next time

May Peace be your guide. 


And tune in for my next series. We’re going to tackle one of my oldest beasts: perfectionism! Stay tuned!


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