Clay in the Hands

Here we are at the onset of a brand new year.  Call it sentimental, idealistic or simply psychological – but for me, standing here refreshes my soul and ignites my passion.  I see opportunity and adventure that comes with a new year.

Some may say, “January 1st is just another day like any other.”  I suppose that is true from a literal sense.  But for me, there is something exciting – even liberating and life-giving – about starting a new segment in time, a new leg of the journey.

Sometimes it might seem safer to hold on to the past and try and maintain what we see as comfortable.  Don’t get me wrong.  We need to remember the past – to reflect on it, celebrate it and learn from it.  The path before us is often harder to see if we don’t know where we are and where we have been.  So we look to the past as a reference, but we cannot dwell there.  Life demands that we press forward.

Isaiah 43:18-19 says this:

The writer reminds us that we cannot get lost in the past, we have to keep looking forward. God is doing something new. The tone of the author is that we need to pay attention so that we don’t miss it.  Eugene Peterson in The Message translates this idea like this: “Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?” He may have taken a bit of liberty with the text but I think he nailed the intent.  

It is so easy to get wrapped up in the past and take a passive attitude toward the future – as if the future is what is going to happen to us.  The writer of Isaiah reminds us that God is at work doing something fresh and new and we need to pay attention so that we can be actively involved in what is happening.

2015 is here.  We stand on the shore of a vast sea of possibility.  God is already at work creating something new and we are invited to join in.  Don’t miss it because you are too busy looking at the past.

How will you approach this opportunity?