As we prepare to cross the threshold of one year into another, I wonder what I must leave behind in 2023. What is there that I need to no longer carry into 2024? What is the Holy Spirit calling for me to lay down & walk away from? If we believe we worship a God who is making all things new, what does it serve me or our Lord to continue carrying the things that no longer serve?
Human nature tends to ruminate over the past, to consider the things of old as they impact & shape our lives in an ongoing way. We learn from how things have gone or been before, shaping our understanding of a world that created order from chaos. So, it is natural for us to look to the past to understand & frame our future. It’s part of why we like to make resolutions & determine the new things we want to do; they are often a direct reflection of what we have already done or learned from in our past. Our very formation as creatures who reflect the imago Dei & all that it means to be the One creating order from chaos grounds us in understanding the order of tomorrow from the truth we hold of yesterday. However, this way of being leaves little room for the Creator to form something completely new today.
As we consider the days of old, coming to the threshold of the year’s change, what is the Spirit of God calling us to leave behind? What are we to no longer consider because it needs to remain with the things of old? Christmas time marks a point when God did something completely new, being born as a baby to impoverished, ordinary people. Christmas is the point when God began this new thing, breaking into the world to live among humanity & create a way for newness to be born again & again & again. As we journey through this time when another beginning ends again, may we embrace the newness that God is birthing into our lives & the world today as we follow the prophet’s words. The Alpha & Omega, the Beginning & the End, is in the midst of our lives & creation, birthing something new, inviting us to let go of what keeps us from being present in the newness of life so we might fully participate in the new creation.
In Christ’s Love,
