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Unremarkable “The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade…the Lord keeps you from all evil and preserves your life.” (Psalm 121:5-7 NLT) The word for this week is “unremarkable.” You don’t need to check it out, unless you have an unabridged dictionary. It should be there right between “unrelieved” and “unremitting.” But apparently the editors of the American Heritage College Dictionary didn’t feel it was “remarkable” enough to include it. You see, editors of dictionaries are not known for being sports fans and in all likelihood they are not conversant with medical terminology. “Unremarkable” is a term that can be found in every medical dictionary available today and the word may even appear occasionally in sports sections of major newspapers. In medical language, “unremarkable” means normal. It means that something is neither too much of one thing nor too little of another. If your blood pressure remains pretty much the same from day to day, it could be said that your blood pressure is “unremarkable.” Within normal limits. Boston Red Sox fans (proudly known there as “Red Sox Nation”) were greatly relieved recently when their most-valuable-player David Ortiz underwent a battery of cardiac tests and was ruled to be healthy. “Unremarkable” was the word used to describe the results of Ortiz’s heart tests conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital. Tens of thousands of local fans breathed a sigh of relief. When I describe my week as being “unremarkable,” I tend to think in negative terms. The week was okay—certainly not fantastic. But I need to change my tune. I need to see the week in reality terms. While it may not have been “remarkable,” it wasn’t all that bad. I am still alive. I have an open line with God. I’m not in a hospital. Things are okay. I may even quote the wag that coined the slightly edited phrase, “Thank Goodness It’s Friday.” In any case, I need to be thankful, because God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. That’s pretty remarkable! Heavenly Father,
thank you for bringing me through another week. It seemed
unremarkable at times, but because you are watching over me, it
was better than normal—better than “unremarkable.” I know of
people who do not know you. They are without hope. They are
discouraged about their jobs, their family, their home, their
children, their future. Normal for them is ugly. I am so blessed
to be your child. With the psalmist I say, “I look up to the
mountains—does my help come from there? My help comes from the
Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.” Thank you for being a
remarkable God. Amen. |