I found some writing from April 6th, 2014, which ironically, applies to life for me now as well. But really, it applies to all seasons of life whether I admit or even realize it or not.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! -2 Corinthians 5:17
“Tired and weary. And songs like “Worn” and verses from Isaiah come to mind when most needed, but without constant, almost never-ending flowing doses, the soul, the heart, the mind, they falter and sink back under the waves that threaten to push me into the deep. And in this world, who can be so totally immersed in the Word, who can have enough worship songs uploaded into their mind’s Ipod, WHO CAN be so connected and in tune to Him that we never sink? For goodness sakes, even Peter saw Jesus Himself walking on water, and still faltered with the Son of God right there before him in the flesh! But if we never sink, do we ever have a real opportunity to exercise the faith in Him? Faith is like a muscle, and if you don’t use it, you lose it. Is there ever a time though, when we just wish we didn’t have so much opportunity to use it? When we are worn out and don’t get enough sleep, are anxiety-ridden, dealing with our own glory-driven, hateful, and spiteful selves, and SO not looking like a person who came from LOVE Himself or like she belongs to a kingdom that should already be being built here on earth.
What was it that Grant said on January 1st? I can’t remember exactly, but it had something to do with resolutions and Joseph, and being a new creation. And that we can’t expect this year to be better than the last, because it is just different and it will have different challenges, different problems, different victories, it is a different time of our lives. And we can’t go into it, expecting all sunshine and roses, but we can go into it realizing that God will use all of it to mold us further into that new creation that He means for us to be. That’s the funny thing about some new creations—the manmade ones. When they are art or pottery, or music, they are created and then for the most part they stay the way they are created to be. Nobody goes messing with a Van Gogh, or the Mona Lisa—they are masterpieces much too valuable to be changed or modified. It would actually reduce their value to change those pieces of canvas. But when the creations are animals or human, from the moment that the created is formed, change is constantly happening. Cells are moving, growing, developing. Never-ending. We are a new creation when He creates us in the womb, when He re-creates our heart at salvation, but He never lets us stop there. We are not just new, but RE-newed. A new creation can’t stop being recreated, because we have not made it to the pinnacle of what He wants us to become. The heart that God bestowed in every one of us is more valuable than anything the most brilliant human artist has created on a canvas. God can take a heart and morph it into something new with ruining the original canvas. We are living canvases, living re-creations, constantly renewing.
A new creation can’t stop renewing and changing for each different season of life, but with each new change, each new direction, each new challenge, that creation must have a part of itself die. Without letting that part go, the part that needs to die in order to allow a seed of new life and growth to sprout, the new creation chooses to remain a shell of the true self, a hologram of what God desires to grow up and reap the harvest from. Stagnation happens. Rot. Not much good comes from that. But somewhere in the middle of that there is still a seed. Remove the rotten soil, that stagnated water and replace it with the good stuff that allows it to soak up some sunlight, fresh water, and fertilize it with some love, some words, some life. But in order to grow properly, in order to ensure the whole plant, the whole self is productive and fruitful, parts must be pruned. Pruning means parts must die. Parts that would harm the overall being. Those pruny parts are just as much a part of the fibers of the creation as the parts that are doing their jobs, but just like a gall bladder gone bad, when they don’t contribute to the overall goal of a properly functioning creation, then it must be removed. And the creation becomes new again with the pruned parts removed and allowing for new growth; reaching for the heights of the mountains of God while keeping the roots in the valleys…because you can’t do a real life, much less a re-created one without both landscapes, and without God stitching together every fiber of the canvas.
amandasharon 