There is no "New Normal"

What Job said was, is, and always will be true: Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.  He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. (Job 14:1-2)  A modernized interpretation of this passage could be, “Life’s a (female canine), and then you die.”

Now, it may help to understand that trouble, like the days in a person’s life, is a plural number; very few people go through life with only one problem during their days under the sun.  The fortunate thing is that individual troubles normally have a duration that is much shorter than a person’s lifespan.  The unfortunate thing is troubles can seem to line up and take a number at life’s deli counter.  One trouble is barely dismissed before the next difficulty responds to the “Now Serving . . .” call.

During, and in between, times of trouble, people seek a sustainable manner of living, either in turmoil, or after the turmoil has past, to manage the change in their circumstances.  Many call it the “New Normal”.  Whether the trouble is a loss of employment or income, the dissolution of a marriage, the death of a loved one, it is common for people to determine how they will consistently do as much as they could of what they did before in a new way: they may shop at different stores and/or shop less; they may travel and go out less frequently, if at all; their roster of friends and associates may be altered; physical, mental, and emotional capabilities may change.  Indeed, man’s adaptability to markedly different circumstances, constraints, surroundings, etc is remarkable.

But what if there is no "New Normal"?  What if there hasn't been one, at least for the unregenerate, since the Garden of Eden.