You’ve heard the traditional rhyme for a bride preparing for her wedding: something old, something new; something borrowed, something blue. In Victorian days, people used this tradition to remind brides how they were weaving their old life into a new one because marriage is always a blending process. Those words have been rattling around in my head as I contemplate the possibilities of a New Year that will start with too much of 2020 in it. And I fear I’m thinking about more of the old than the new.
But God says, “I am making everything new.” Revelation 20:5.
And I say, “Bring it on!”
Unfortunately, God’s new is not a magic wand that takes away everything we don’t like. God’s new is like the new morning sunrise, new in its color configuration but old in its process. Even when God does His new, He incorporates old ways into it. God wants to help us see our own sunrises in a New Year, so He starts by renewing our minds.
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
God’s renewing work happens when we let Him show us what He sees in a New Year.
We need new eyes to see New Year possibilities this year more than any other year we have experienced. We need new ways to let God take something new and marry it with something old to create a New Year we can't even imagine. Maybe it is as simple as looking for the new, expecting it, and letting it surprise us when it shows up.
What we need to remember is that God doesn’t waste; He redeems. He repurposes. He re-news. While old is not a commodity we always value, old is just raw material for God’s artistry.
We need to put behind us any attitude or perspective that blocks our ability to see the New Year with God’s eyes, pointing us in directions that will grow us, engage us, and empower us to become all that He knows we can be. We must celebrate the beginning of this New Year with hope that God will lead us into a New Year incorporating something old while He is at work bringing something new.
I believe there are miracles waiting for us as we let God do what He does best, renew our minds, direct our vision, open our hearts to see His new again and again. That is His promise, and He has never broken His word.
