Let me ask you just a few quick questions: Do you’re thinking that we must always have great expectations for our lives – expectations of well-being and flourishing and happiness – or do you’re thinking that we must always be satisfied with lives that don’t reflect these sorts of qualities? Should we expect our family life to be joyful, friendships to be satisfying, and work-life to feel purposeful? Or should we accept something aside from those things? Is it higher to expect more of life or should we expect less of life? Infinitely more necessary, what does God want for us?
There are those that say that folks are happier after they expect less. For instance, the Netherlands steadily shows up in surveys as considered one of the happiest countries on the earth. When you explore why the Dutch are completely happy, nevertheless, you discover it’s partially because they don’t expect much of life and are subsequently rarely upset. There is a widely known Dutch phrase that captures this expect less mentality. It’s Doe Normaal, which is loosely translated as “just be normal” or “act normal.” This expression, which is commonly utilized in Dutch culture, is to chastise a one who expects an excessive amount of or who’s going after more and higher. People will say to that person, “Doe Normaal.” Doe Normaal captures a way of life that daunts wanting an excessive amount of.
I first encountered this phrase while visiting the Hague, the governmental capital of the Netherlands. We stood in front of the amazingly unimpressive Dutch Memorial to the Constitution while a tour guide explained how the “just be normal” mentality had influenced even the design and constructing of monuments just like the uninspiring one we were . She also opined that for this reason you don’t hear much about Dutch food or other facets of Dutch culture. Doe Normaal had turn into a cultural code that discouraged reaching too high, dreaming too big, and expecting more.
I readily concede that that is most assuredly an overgeneralization of a complete people. I respect the Dutch and admire much about their history and culture. Yet I can’t help but think that not expecting much stifles the God created longings of the human soul; longings for inspiration, and sweetness, and more of excellent things slightly than less. When I visit the Lincoln Memorial or the opposite memorials in Washington, DC, or walk through the good European cathedrals, or interact with great artworks in beautiful museums, I’m glad that anyone decided not to simply do normal. I’m glad that somebody thought more, higher, and grander.
I feel that this desire for something great and exquisite and meaningful is rooted within the indisputable fact that we were created within the image of God and that God has high expectations for what our lives needs to be. This is why we reflect on what God wants when we wish more. I’m not talking about wanting more material things, at the least not primarily. I’m talking about wanting more of life because it was meant to be. The type of life that Jesus offers and that He called “life in all its fullness” [1] or “more and higher life than (we) ever dreamed of.”[2]
One approach to get at that is to say that God has higher thoughts about our lives than we do. When we predict higher thoughts about our lives, we’re aligning our considering with God’s considering. We are considering more and higher, not less and worse. Or just normal. What about God is normal anyway?
Let’s give attention to a famous and amazing prophecy present in the writings of Isaiah. This was written to people some 500 years before Christ, who were in “lower than” circumstances. They were in exile in Babylon, some 800 miles away from their promised land. From what God wanted for them. But God tells them that this separation from what He had promised was only a short lived dislocation and that He was going to revive their fortunes and convey them back to life because it was alleged to be.
“For my thoughts will not be your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and don’t return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, in order that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It won’t return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the aim for which I sent it. You will exit in joy and be led forth in peace…” – Isaiah 55:8-12 NIV
Three Beyond Normal Truths
1. God has higher thoughts about you than you do. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
In my latest book, The Lord Give You Peace: A 28-Day Journey To Thrive In God’s Shalom, I write that “I used to listen to that God‘s thoughts were higher than my thoughts and I’d think, God is basically smart, and I’m really silly. While which may be true, at the least a part of the thought here is that God’s thoughts about me, and my future are higher than my thoughts about me and my future.”[3] You could also be in a spot in your life where it’s difficult to assume more slightly than less. I encourage you to go away your low thoughts and enter God’s thoughts.
Those people in Babylonian exile had a difficult time believing that they may live the lives God had dreamed for them. But he had higher thoughts than they did, and better ways to bring those thoughts to pass. And I feel that He has higher thoughts about you and me, and what our lives could be, than we’ve about ourselves.
2. God desires to, and can, flourish you. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
God tells us that His Word, which is an expression of His thoughts, makes things bud and flourish. The word “flourish” on this passage refers to a plant springing healthily up out of the bottom. But God is saying this in reference to His plans for His people. In one other place, we’re told that “the righteous will flourish like a palm tree”[4] or “the righteous will thrive like a palm tree”.[5] To flourish is to thrive in every dimension of life. To flourish is to experience life as a continuously growing, at all times improving, ever-increasing, more and higher, well-being in every dimension of life.
Here is how a flourishing person might speak about their life: “Emotionally, it’s not only that I’m not anxious or sad…it’s that I’m experiencing a variety of joy immediately and have a deep sense of satisfaction. Physically, it’s not only that when I am going to the doctor, she says ‘all of your vital signs are good,’ but greater than that, my body is becoming more healthy. I’m eating well, I’m exercising, I’m getting stronger, I’m resting well, and I actually have more energy. My business isn’t just paying its bills, it’s booming, expanding, hiring people, convalescing at fulfilling our mission, making more cash, and making more of a contribution to the world around us. My marriage isn’t just enduring. Rather, we’re experiencing growth and affection and deepening our relational intimacy. We are having more fun together than ever before and sharing our dreams with one another. Mentally, I’m having such positive thoughts, latest ideas are coming to me, I’m understanding how one can address a few of the problems I’ve been facing, and I’m more creative than I’ve ever been. Financially, I’m not only barely getting by. I actually have plenty. I’m moving toward financial freedom. I’m saving, I’m investing, my investments are growin,g and I’m giving generously. My relationship with God is best than it’s ever been. I actually have an exquisite communion with Him. I’m learning a lot from reading Scripture and reading about Scripture. By God’s grace, I’m flourishing.”
God’s Word will make you flourish!
3. God provides you with peace. (Isaiah 55:12-13)
This section ends with the promise that God’s people will “exit in joy and be led forth in peace.”[6] This word “peace” is translated from the Hebrew word “shalom.” Shalom is far more than peace, because the absence of conflict or freedom from anxiety. Shalom is about every part working together in our lives, the best way God designed life to work. The Message translates this passage like this: “So you’ll exit in joy, you’ll be led into an entire and complete life.”[7] This is the peace the Lord gives.
The peace the Lord gives is about greater than the absence of negative things; it’s also concerning the abundant presence of positive things. This is what we must always expect in our lives. This is beyond normal. And that is what we must always want.
[1] John 10:10 GNT
[2] John 10:10 MSG
[3] The Lord Give You Peace: A 28-Day Journey to Thrive in God’s Shalom, Terry A. Smith, pg. 42
[4] Psalm 92:12 NIV
[5] Psalm 92:12 CSB
[6] Isaiah 55:12 NIV
[7] Isaiah 55:12 MSG
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/BartekSzewczyk
A gifted communicator and cofounder of The New York City Leadership Center (now Movement.org), Terry speaks in quite a lot of national and international venues, inspiring others to find and pursue the life God dreams for them.
He is the best-selling writer of The Lord Give You Peace: A 28-Day Journey to Thrive in God’s Shalom; The Lord Bless You: A 28-Day Journey to Experience God’s Extravagant Blessings; The Hospitable Leader: Create Environments Where People and Dreams Flourish; and Live Ten: Jumpstart the Best Version of Your Life. Terry and his wife, Sharon, have been married for forty-two years. They have three adult children—Sumerr, Caleb, and Christian—together with two daughters-in-law, Lindsay and Amanda, and grandson, Wolfgang.
