I crave change. I crave different. I crave new. You might think that college works
pretty well for me because of the new classes and schedules that I receive
every 8 or 16 weeks. False. It usually takes about four or five days before
monotony sets in and I begin to go stir crazy. I find myself buying new pencils
or a new water bottle throughout the week just to add a little bit of new into
my predictable week.
I’m tired of opening my eyes in the same room and letting my
feet hit the same carpeted floor every morning; sleepily dragging myself over
to the same mirror where I gaze bleary eyed at my same face and robotically get
ready for another day filled with the same professors and the same tasks. (No
offence, professors and friends; it’s not you, it’s me.)
I am constantly anticipating the next thing; working
forward, with goals in mind. While this is good; it can also be taken too far,
taken to a point that makes it difficult for me to enjoy things that are right
in front of me in this moment.
Which brings us to Revelation 21:5:
Behold, I am making
all things new.
First, on a slightly insignificant note, I like the word
choice of behold, as if saying, Stop, look here, and let the following
words soak in. (Good word; I might use it more often.)
Second, I like the present progressive verb am making. Not, I have made, or I will
make, but I am making…currently, right now, Jesus is making new. In this moment
and the next and forever, Jesus is making all things new. The use of a present
progressive verb implies a continual process without an end in sight.
I recognize that this verse is referencing heaven and how
everything here on this earth will be made new, made clean and pure once again.
And while this is very exciting and something to look forward to, I think it
applies to here and now too.
There is new around me every day: a new snowfall, a new
person walking on the sidewalk (whom I have never met), a brand new untouched
day – a whole 24 hours that have never existed before. New gifts that are waiting
for me to readily count them (Ann Voskamp’s 1,000
Gifts).
If only I would look up and notice. If only I would get my
head out of the mud and monotony and instead choose to focus on the new, the
gifts, the life He has given me.
Every day we are faced with a question: how will we spend this next set of 24 hours? We can spend them in a
variety of productive and selfish ways. Am I letting stress and monotony rule
my life which ultimately clouds my vision? Or am I taking every moment to live
for Him and notice the new?
