Notice the New

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?