nothing new under the sun

Every new year "inspiring" sayings about doing things that scare you and creating a life you love seem, well, less inspiring.  We've all "decided" to lose 20 pounds, be nicer, try harder, do more, do less and even the idea of actually keeping a new year's resolution seems to have become a joke.

I know I'm not THAT old, but the older I get the shorter things feel and the millions of things that used to feel like really matter have dwindled to just a few.  A lot of things I used to spend a lot of time thinking and worrying about more years, marriage, mommyhood, life in Haiti and I believe, Christ, have turned into things that that don't own my time and thoughts any more.

In (almost!) thirty years, I have seen a lot of suffering, a lot of beautiful things, a lot of bad choices and a few beautiful sacrifices.  Mostly, I've seen things be the same.  People mostly act the same, and we all mostly want the same and live the same and do the same.

When I think about NEW things this New Year's Day, I realize that the only NEW things I have seen and experienced myself I didn't do, and nobody did for me.

The only NEW things I've seen and experienced, HE has done.  The new things done in me, done in others...real miraculous transformed change...truly beautiful creations...all things new, He did.  Does.

"Nothing new under the sun," Solomon (who they say was pretty wise :) said after living it all, and here, thousands of years later, I think he was right.

But this year, 2012, God is not under the sun, is He!

Christ, a new covenant. 2 Cor. 3:6
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.  2 Cor. 5:17
I am making all things new.  Rev. 21:5
I will put a new heart in them.  Ezekiel 11:19
Sing to the Lord a new song.  Psalm 96:1

He's the one capable of doing NEW this year, capable of creating it in me and in my life.  He knows what that needs to be in my life!  Knows how to do it, and how to care for us on the journey.

So my concern for this new year comes down to this:  what can I do (with His help) to be the purest vessel, cleanest slate, most beautiful canvas, most free from bondage, holy person that I can be so that HE can do NEW in and through me?  What do I need to do so that HE can do NEW?

What do I need to forgive?
What do I need to let go?
What do I need to give to Him?
What do I need to die to?
What relationships do I need to work on? Let go of?
What do I need to stop spending time on?
What do I need to spend more time on?
What chains do I need to ask Him to break?
What doesn't look like Jesus in me?

Grateful to find His mercy to be NEW this morning, as it is every day of my life!

Lord, do your new in us this year!