Beyond the "Norm"
1 Samuel 17:38-40
Then Saul dressed David in his own gear, putting a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head… but [David] couldn’t walk around well because he’d never tried it before… So he took them off. He then grabbed his staff and chose five smooth stones from the streambed. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and with sling in hand went out to the Philistine.
Those whom societal systems fail to support — or actively work against — have to create their own webs of care. Among disability activists, for example, the insights and innovations that many disabled persons develop to survive a hostile world is called “crip wisdom.”
I see this kind of wisdom at play in young David.
Saul and his soldiers’ imaginations are trapped by conventional wisdom: battles are fought with swords, armor, powerful commanders. When faced with a foe against whom “the way things have always been done” won’t work, their brains short circuit; they haven’t had any practice thinking beyond convention!
But David, whose body can’t fit those norms and whose unique experiences as a shepherd have taught him other ways to fight, is open to new possibilities.
Where the soldiers see a “useless” boy and an insurmountable struggle, David sees a path to victory.
What problems are you or your community currently facing that might be helped by thinking beyond normative expectations? Whom can you turn to for help thinking outside the box?
— Avery Arden
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