God is constantly doing new things in our lives and on the earth. Change is one of the hardest phenomena we humans have to deal with but it is the one thing that is constant. It is especially hard when we are being moved from a place that we quite enjoyed to a place not as comfortable. Most of us have a hard time with it, and others downright do not like it. I like my coffee white and with sugar and if you give me a black cup I just will not drink it. I wear my hair like this! We all have quirky ways we work and that we sometimes need to revamp to open different viewpoints and adaptabilities in us.
Introduction to new ways and systems that do not suit our pallets are often uncomfortable but training ourselves to become adaptable to new scenarios and environments is one way we can position ourselves to experience positive growth in our lives because we begin to exercise unworked muscles within our makeup. It also equips us to be strong enough to maintain positive well-being despite changing landscapes around us. When we allow ourselves to be stretched beyond our comfort zones and areas of familiarity, we position ourselves to not only survive in the new but to thrive in it. Death and life have a close relationship and oftentimes the overwhelming sadness that comes with the end of things…causes us to delay in embracing the new situation and the new mercies that have been released for it.
New things can also be exciting and in a year that has had so many forced unpleasant new experiences, it may be time to embrace the benefits of being shifted out of your old into the new, regardless of how it comes! As time moves, all the subjects of this earth are introduced to a new second. It is a new moment in time where new experiences are inevitable. There are fresh opportunities and connections for better outcomes that present themselves if we learn to discern what they are as well as choose to take them.
Prior to 2020, I had decided to do something new that shocked me every month. This intentional act I believe helped shift my mindset to embrace new things. I focussed on my hair and put different colours into it. Having been raised in a conservative culture and spending most of my working career in a corporate environment where red, blue, pink and green hair was a no-no, it was one of the most liberating things I did! People no doubt had opinions of it(many did not like it and thought I was losing the plot!) but the greatest positive transformation was in me.
I realised that I could pull it off and did not need to conform to the way I had previously thought about my hair and what I was allowed and supposed to do to it according to the world. The shift in my mindset literally opened up possibilities of what was possible for me and has taken the limits of what I can do. It also opened me up to access a new set of people who previously would never have been drawn to me. As a result, it gave me access to learn things from a perspective and way of thinking of a different group of individuals I would never have connected with. It opened me up to the NEW!
Isaiah 43 vs 19 says See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
No wonder God had to make an announcement..lest we get stuck in the humdrum of the old thing and fail to see the metamorphosing of the old to a completely new thing. Sometimes when we get stuck in the sorrow of the loss or to rigid to move with the shift, we miss out on the beauty that is presenting itself in the new season.
The failure of your old business might be because there is a NEW business that will suit you better and be more profitable in this new landscape. The loss of your old job that you had just stuck with because it paid the bills could be the opportunity you needed for you to step into a NEW career where your skills and experience will be put to better use. That car accident that you came out of alive means you are going to get a NEW car. Even with something as tragic and devastating as the death of a loved one who always used to do something for you and whom you miss terribly; turn it on its head and look at how you are now going to need to awaken the responsible nature inside of you and take on the NEW mantle of leadership that has now been passed on to you. Try and see how all things will work out for your good!
Today is the beginning of a new week! Do not get stuck in the old ways that no longer serve you just because that is how you do things. Be intentional about releasing the old habits that do not work as well anymore. Even old seasons know when to give way and let the new times enter in. Adapt with the times and step into the New!
GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH THE IDEA OF A NEW THING