THE POWER OF THE UNEXPECTED

If you are a fan of college football then you have no doubt heard the word heard the word "parity" a great deal this year. Webster calls it "the quality or state of being equal or equivalent." Parity has been has been used to describe the indescribable. Upsets abounding every week beginning with Appalachian State beating Michigan and ending with Pittsburgh defeating West Virginia. (Pitts' quarterback is my sisters next door neighbor by the way- like you care) There is a power in words. When we use a word like "parity" every week, then we write off the power of the unexpected. It is probably a part of our human condition, to want things to be equal. It may be a reason tolerance is such huge deal right now. But I have to wonder I when we expect the unexpected every day what is left to blow our minds? Like skin becoming calloused from daily toil, so is our mind or spirit when parity is the norm. The beauty of the season just passed is that we celebrate a miraculous thing. God in human form, not as expected... a military leader or emancipatory rebel...but in the most humble and inhumane to us. Imagine our social service response if we had babes being born in cow crap today. There is power in the unexpected. It is the extraordinary that jolts us from complacency. May your life never suffer from parity.