Ordinary Dreams of an Everyman
One morning, when the sun spilled through the front windows of my grandmother’s house – something happened between the drinking of hot cocoa at her kitchen table and my sockless feet pushing off the porch floor propelling me high and low on my grandmother’s swing.
My “Can-I-stay-here-forever” wish which every child asks when it’s time to leave their grandparent’s house – and which should always be answered with a gentle, hug-filled, “No” – garnered a yes. My mother said, “Yes” over the phone, in the morning light slipping boldly across the upstairs hallway as Grandmother and I made beds. Yes, because of a broken marriage.
Radical divorce – 1967 radical. Radical divorce giving a yes to askings that should always receive no.
Radical divorce planted a seed dream in my heart – a dream to grow up and have a “normal” family – to become what I perceived was an everyman life – 2 parents loving each other, raising children in security, love and faith who grow with support to reach their dreams, butterfly-kiss families.
Radical meaning “favoring or tending to produce extreme or fundamental changes in political, economic, or social conditions, institutions, habits of mind; someone who demands substantial or extreme changes in the existing system.”
Divorce radicalized family, an extreme fundamental cultural exchange that left me uncomfortable.
As I grew, this everyman dream (born age 5) competed with my writing dream (born age 6).
God was in this everyman dream of mine – conventional, traditional – rooted all the way back to Abraham and Sarah, to Adam and Eve.
Faith inside the Garden of Eden was Normal. Faith outside the Garden of Eden is Radical.
The Soul is always trying to get back to the Father; Only in Him does the soul find rest, recognize the normal state God created him/her for. The soul wants to be found, wants to be at home, wants to be accepted at His family table. The soul yearns for God-normal and God-ordinary.
Yet, we live faith outside Eden. Faith outside Eden is radical.
As I grew in living and grew in faith, I met other children of the Father. One young man had scripture tattooed over his arms, legs, back, chest. He wanted to capture the attention of the outsider, he said. Radical Reaching.
My maid-of-honor’s sister’s family were missionaries in Africa, entering war-torn regions, losing a son to asthma in a place where medical help wasn’t readily available. He’d grown up in Africa, wanted to go back and minister, a washing-feet kind of ministry. Radical Reaching.
Maybe Radical Reaching is, also, possibly as simple as a Hotdogs and Prayer front-yard, after-school community outreach – whether it’s your own front yard or school’s front yard or your church’s front yard.
This everyman dream to love and be loved in marriage until we’re each 100.
This everyman dream to raise children with parenting arms that don’t pull apart.
This everyman dream to raise to wholeness, not brokenness.
This everyman dream to raise sons with a rhema/alive knowledge of the Father’s healing, mercy, strength and love.
I have been struggling with my everyman dream lately – that trying to live God-ordinary is not enough.
Suddenly, faith had become radical, and I was asking God for an ordinary dream.
Had my non-radical dreams been like a balloon weight keeping me from soaring high? Had I dreamed too small, too low? Limited God’s purpose for my life?
And that, my friend, was a deception of a radical snake that entered a normal garden that was Eden at one time. The devil was playing semantic games with my faith.
One noon-time, my oldest son walked up the porch steps, prowled around the kitchen for lunch while I sat in the rocking chair grading college essays. He had popped over from the university.
“Do you know,” he said. “We’re a peculiar family. Not all families are like us.”
“Ummm – yeah – we’re called to be a peculiar people,” I countered, deliberately mis-translating his intent. Apparently, he had just discovered not all families were like ours. I don’t know whether he found out other parents didn’t give their kids Payne’s Common Sense and stockings full of C.S. Lewis before Narnia was made into blockbuster movies. I don’t know if he found out other families didn’t talk about the Senate, the House, the Legislative Branch and decisions affecting our families. Maybe not all families believe in laying on of hands for healing. The conversation never went down that road.
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9)
Maybe we are a peculiar family. If peculiarity meant different, not the status quo defined in the media – well, maybe my everyman dream was more radical than I realized.
If being radical is a son praying for a friend in the school bathroom
If being radical is reaching out hands to hold while praying God’s peace in a hard challenge for a friend or a stranger
If being radical is a son hanging out with atheists to show them the heart of a child of God
If being radical is praying for broken boys when they have no one else that does
If being radical is standing in faith and overcoming instead of hope and joy being destroyed
If being radical shows sons stopping a bully and ministering to the bullied
If being radical is praying for a friend in Wal-Mart’s parking lot
If being radical is raising sons who pray that God show them the bride He intends for them
If being radical is praying for a baby to turn and believing God does
. . . .Maybe an everyman dream produces radical results in a world that is not God-normal.
“How can you stand to come here everyday,” a fellow worker moaned.
“It’s a good job. There are worse jobs. Maybe I don’t use all my gifts, all myself but it’s a good job,” I answered. “I believe in blooming where I’m planted.”
“I don’t want to bloom here,” she laughed.
Yet, even in the hard ground, even the ground we see as uncomfortable, we are to reach for Him, find His blessings and in the reaching and finding, we bloom where we are planted.
Radical: “Implanted by nature; In botany, proceeding immediately from the root; pertaining to the root or origin; original, fundamental; as a radical truth” (Noah Webster, 1828 dictionary).
Blooming where I am planted is radical living, radical faith when the root is the Father – and that root is where normal lives.
Maybe there is something radical about the ordinary everyman dream – something beautifully radical growing and blooming. Something that shouldn’t be diminished or discounted. Something that maybe doesn’t soar but blooms riotously.
Maybe an everyman dream produces radical results in a world that is not God-normal.
oh yes … RADICAL … a powerful word … and how does it play out for each of us in our faith walk, in our marriages, with our families, in the ministries we’re called to …
“Faith outside Eden is radical.” Wow, that is so true! I love how you put that. Great, encouraging post. Sometimes I struggle with radical because I think it needs to be over the top. But you have reminded me that sometimes radical is in the little things that we do, the risks we take, even just being different.
Christy @ A Heartening Life
http://www.ahearteninglife.com
I love that you are a “peculiar people.” What a boring world we would live in if we all lived like the world’s definition of the “everyman.” I love your words, “. . . .Maybe an everyman dream produces radical results in a world that is not God-normal.” Radical results are spectacular! Keep doing what you’re doing and challenging us to do the same–following in the footsteps of the greatest radical of all time, Jesus!
First time coming by from Ann’s. Love what you had to say here.
I love how you write and that I keep “finding” your blog each week. Sometimes just being content makes us the most peculiar people in a group. Your family sounds amazing – praise God!
Beautiful.
There’s so much in this post that makes me think – makes me excited to embrace radical more than I already do. I love your transition from the radical brokenness of your childhood family to your radical choices in unity with Christ. Thank you!
I love how God redeems our broken lives!
Oh wow…I’m so glad I found your blog!!!!! I just want to say, I love your peculiarily radical family! What a blessing this blog was! I also love that others radical is your normal…indeed we are called to this full life!
“Maybe an everyman dream produces radical results in a world that is not God-normal.” Oh, what He can do with the seed of a dream.
I wonder how many times I’ve told God, “I don’t want to bloom here.” I want to live radically–to bloom in the most unlikely places and under the most unlikely circumstances. This is a beautiful post and the truths are packed in from every angle.
radical! xo Thank you for sharing at the hop
Peculiar. Love it.
Faith inside the Garden of Eden was Normal. Faith outside the Garden of Eden is Radical.
It is, isn’t it? Why did we ever think it was going, in this broken world, to be easy?
This is a lovely and thought-provoking post.
Thank you.
joannempotter.blogspot.com
When things in life don’t seem to fit into what the world believes to be normal, I have to remind myself that we have been called out. We are in this world – not of this world. Because we are a royal priesthood – a chosen generation – we have been set apart to salt the earth by being reflections of HIS majesty!
This is a very thought-provoking post! Thanks
We’ve struggled to find our place. Is it an “ordinary” life place or a “radical” life place? Thanks for pointing out that every life of faith is an extraordinary life.
I want to “bloom riotously” — yes, even right here! You really spoke to me today. (We’re neighbors over at Laura’s Wellspring today.) I’m glad I came over to see you!
When my family left our home in Ok. to come here to Ky, my mother said to me…”Bloom where God plants you”. I hope I’ve done that. . .And I want to live radically for Him!
My boys always said we had a “Weird” family…I guess that’s ok;)
So enjoyed your post!
Oh the power and truth of this! Growing in His extraordinary love!
It is counter-cultural to be a praying people. Sometimes even when you grow up in the church. You are doing such good things–radical and ordinary. That’s pretty cool.
We are peculiar to many, I always though I was and still do believe I am odd to many. Praise God for those everyman dreams that reach out and hold our families together. Thank you for sharing at “Tell Me a Story.”
Awesome post. God’s Son was the most radical Being ever to walk this planet, and I want to walk in His footsteps. With Him, and only with Him, are all things possible, He uses ordinary people to accomplish His extraordinary purposes. Thanks for the thought-provoking post, & God bless1
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My heart jumped for joy reading through your family’s radicalness. Because radical living IS blooming where we are planted. Love, love.
This fantastic post is being featured on my blog today as part of “Tuesdays with a Twist” blog hop: http://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/2014/05/time-to-link-up-tuesdays-with-twist_13.html
If you get a chance (& if you want to), please stop by and grab a featured button.
Thanks so much!
Angie
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Wow, my comment is just a drop in the bucket. =) Thank you for stopping by my blog MaryLeigh.
I’m sorry that you endured your parents divorce. I am on the other end of that. I am the parent that divorced. On my 3rd marriage, but we vow that we will see our “ours baby” grow up grounded and healthy because he will have both parents to raise him just as you mentioned in your post. Why do things have to go so wrong in culture for us to finally value what our great grandparents had? My husband’s Mexican grandparents were married 67 years.
You are a lovely writer. Blessings~
I love your heart~ So glad you stopped by, too! ~Maryleigh
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Maybe an everyman dream produces radical results in a world that is not God-normal.
So much yes!
When I was growing up, my whole goal in life was to be normal. My family was marked by alcoholism. I pursued that dream for years, never quite obtaining it. I now know that no one is normal!
But it is interesting you reposted this blog when you did. My pastor preached a sermon last night, “What is that in Your Hand?” and his point was God wants you to use what you have at hand … Your words, “Had my non-radical dreams been like a balloon weight keeping me from soaring high? Had I dreamed too small, too low? Limited God’s purpose for my life?” and the lie the enemy was telling you, “trying to live God-ordinary is not enough,” fits in so well with this idea. God wants us to use what is at hand, where He has placed us. Hope I’m making sense, but it speaks to me, anyway!
I love that question/message – “What is in your hand?” I have come to the conclusion after much thought – and children grown up – the last ones about to fly – that focusing on BIG Dreams – like being president or “famous” like sports figures – takes their eyes off of making the best of “what is in their hands.” I think the greatest happiness – and, potentially, the greatest impact can be had by making the best with what’s at hand. You are making perfect sense to me, Jerralea!
Good Morning, Maryleigh. Normal…yes I dreamed of “normal” a number of times during my life: when Daddy died at my age of 12, when my first husband and I could not be a couple any longer…and I sought ‘normal’ in all the wrong places. Daddy did not leave for any reason other that things out of his control but as a 12 year old who absolutely adored him, I did not know the difference.
I did not really know love until Jesus entered my life 33 years after Daddy died. I truly began a journey of living radically, whether in the day-to-day or in the wild and crazy. But this beautiful post has given me so much radical to ponder and munch upon. I love the way you write, Maryleigh for it is a testimony to our God and HIs beautiful hand upon yours.
There is such a beautiful message in your comment, Linda. I want to hear more of your living radically journey. Growing up, the dream for “normal” anchored me on a safe path until I could grasp God’s normal. The world’s normal is not God’s normal – is it! Thank you for your sweet encouragement Linda. I admit – I could not put two words together without God!
A soul always longs to get back to the Father. This struck me so profoundly. And yes, we are called to be set apart. And often the simplest things make us stand out. Your life is a beautiful testimony to this.
I wish I had understood when I was younger that it is the simplest things that enrich our lives. Our culture so encourages fame and fortune the pricelessness of simplicity is too often overlooked! Thank you, friend, for your kind encouragement!
Radically ROOTED in truth! I think we’re a peculiar bunch, too, and I am grateful for your company in this amphibious life—in and not of.
I like God’s kind of peculiar! So grateful for your company in this God-designed journey, Michele! You are a blessing!
Your grandmother sounds like a special lady. You gave many things to ponder. I appreciate this thought, “Something that maybe doesn’t soar but blooms riotously.”
My grandmother taught me to be strong and to stand up for what I believed in – she definitely bloomed where she was planted throughout her life!
Maryleigh, I loved this. I used to fear being radical. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve seen that just seeking to live fervently for Jesus is RADICAL. I loved reading about you, your family. And there’s something to be said for being a “peculiar family.”
Love this post Maryleigh! Thank you for the reminder to radically ‘bloom where I have been planted’
Bless you,
Jennifer
Maryleigh, I love this! I have been trying to be more intentional in remembering God, because he is indeed in all the moments of my day. I just wrote my own acrostic psalm using a word for each verse beginning with each of the 26 letters of the English alphabet!
Maryleigh, this is a beautiful post. Lately I am realizing that in this quickly changing world, simply loving and following Jesus is radical. While the world is longing to get back to “normal”, having faith and trusting in Him is becoming something I long for more than “normal”. Thank you for ministering to my heart this morning!
I love your examples of radical living. Beautiful! And this: “The soul yearns for God-normal and God-ordinary.” Yes.