New

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die...(Eccl. 3:1-2a NIV)

He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD. (Ps. 40:3 NIV)

Some random thoughts about NEW...

- Most students have started a new school year.

- We are (unofficially) entering a new fall. It's after Labor Day, some leaves are just beginning to change colors, and there's LOTS of high school soccer and football for fans to watch.

- We watched two baby girls be baptized yesterday morning - new members of our church family.

- I am trying to discern, more specifically, God's new call on my life.

- Every so often we enter new chapters in relationships with friends.

- At our church we are awaiting the revelation and then arrival of our new lead pastor.

- And in the meantime, our staff starts a new program year as programs launch for the upcoming season.

While a lot of people wait until January 1 to make their New Year's Resolutions or to start new things, I think this is also a good time of year to do this spiritual work. In theory, at least, we are well rested from our fun-in-the-sun this summer and returning to our "normal" activities with renewed energy and vigor.

What is the new thing(s) that God is calling us to? What is the new "song" God is calling us to sing? What is it about that song that will cause others to see and fear God and to put their trust in Him?

"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins." (Mark 2:21-22 NIV)

Or, to put it another way, what is the "new wine" of our lives that God wants to create? And how is He preparing us to be new wineskins for that wine?

As always...I ask lots of questions that (often) have no immediate answer. But God does.

Creator God, thank you for creating all things new...Thank you for giving us new songs to sing, new chapters in life, new events to look forward to. Thank you for challenging us to not stay in the "old wineskins" of life, but to allow you to remake us into new ones so you can place your fruit of the Vine within us. Show us your answers for our questions. Give us focus and discernment and Holy Wisdom so we can know your voice and your path. Help our lives to be a song that others see as a testimony to your love, grace, redemption, and peace. In the name of Christ, Amen.