Wednesday, May 4, 2011

new things

There is just something about new things.

No matter what season it is, our culture just loves talking about new things: new resolutions, new 'you's, actual new items (cars, clothes, houses), renewal, new discoveries, new changes...you name it. New. We love new things and, for a million and half reasons, I don't think this is wrong.

I believe it's God's heart to give us new things. In fact, the entire Bible is written about God doing new thing after new thing. The story of the Bible is this perpetual story of God giving His people lots of new things (...sometimes physical, a lot of the time spiritual) based off His word and His promises.

It always amazes me how all people are the same. No matter where in the world you go, people love newness. If they live in a climate where the seasons don't naturally lend themselves to annual cultural celebration of change (think winter: getting ready for new things; spring: newness coming; etc), they still pursue this idea of something new. New. All people want new things.

When I think about God working in and around me, all I can see are new things. Sure, I have the same relationships, I go to the same places and (as a friend recently told me ), I even wear the same things. Yet, God is making the old new. There are new perspectives, new ideas, new words and new thoughts for every given situation.

I have come to the conclusion that much of life runs on this 20-80 spectrum. Most of the time, when we have a reaction to something, what we are feeling and thinking can be broken down into this 20-80 paradigm. Our reaction is 20% legitimate to what is actually going on and 80% based on ourselves or something in us that's, well, off. For example: if I am fired from my job, I have a reaction. 20% of that reaction is natural: I am hurt that I was fired, I feel rejected and I feel unsure about the future. Is that all I feel? H no. I feel a slew of other emotions: deep insecurity (why was I fired?), massive self-doubt (am I not good enough for this job?), insane amounts of failure (why wasn't I able to measure up/do what I was supposed to do?) and any other number of emotions. It's clear that the bulk of my emotional energy is spent on the latter, more irrational feelings. If I examine those feelings/thoughts, I see that none of them are actually founded. They are all, literally, in my head. All those feelings, that 80%, are based on myself and some standard that I apparently both set for myself and failed to meet. The former, 20% are healthy, normal, rational, containable and resolvable reactions.

It's all about perspective. Just knowing that we are operating at this 80% level of irrationality can free us! How much of our lives is wasted on the 80% that is made-up, in our heads, self-imposed and, honestly, stupid? So much! We do this in every area of our lives, especially how we view ourselves and our relationships with God.

It's amazing how we hold so much over our own heads and backs and stop ourselves from walking confidently before God. It's stupid. I feel like more than half the time God simply wants us to get over ourselves, shut up and come to Him. It's like He's saying, "You! I don't lord that over you! I don't even care! Just come talk to me! You're upset about things that aren't even real! Let me show you what's real! Please!" Yet we sit. We sit in our 80% lies, react in ways that are irrational, and have a morphed perspective of ourselves, God and our situations.

And still, God wants to do a new thing.

God yearns to do a new thing.

He years to release us from that sick cycle of not seeing things clearly or correctly. He years to give us perspective that is NEW. He years to take our same relationships, places and even clothes, and infuse them with newness: new views, perspectives, thoughts, ideas, emotions and understandings. That is what He does.

He makes things new. All things. All. Things.
Even me.
Even tired, stuck-in-my-ways-can't-see-anything-but-my-idea-of-what's-happening-me.
....and the best part?
HE LOVES DOING IT.

So here's to Spring, to the age-old human longing for new things that God so loves to satisfy.
Let's let Him make us new.

K

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