If you visited my home in the last 6 months, my counter has looked like the above photo...two blenders. One trusted, older blender that has survived about 10 years of morning smoothies and other uses; the other, new blender that arrived just after the new year. You see, in the Fall I started to notice the old blender starting to fade and the seal beginning to be compromised. So, I ordered the new one with excitement for a new kitchen tool. And then, it sat. I kept using the old one, waiting for it to officially die and maximize its use before tossing it. Y'all...it is still going!
But, it was time to stop looking at two blenders on my counter (and time to reclaim that space).
The old, leaky blender replaced with the new, fully sealed jar.
The old, multi-function blender replaced with the new, simpler functions of blend, pulse and off.
I finally removed the instruction pages, washed up the new blender, and moved the old blender off the counter. It was long overdue.
Perhaps you may read that and think, 'a new blender and more counter space - great!' But it also had me thinking about other connections of old and new in reference to a Bible study I'm going through right now.
How often do I hang on to the old, familiar thing? How often do I choose the comfortable and convenient thing? All the while something new, something better is sitting right there.
In Isaiah 43, it says:
18 “Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
When a new thing comes, it beckons change...change that is many times met with reluctance. Perhaps it is a simpler way than the old, more complex way. We need to be attentive to perceive the new thing and the opportunities it may offer, while keeping in mind that new does not always mean easier and calls us to go all in.
Just as Christ taught us through wineskins... "And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” - Mark 2: 22
Change beckons us to embrace the new, to perceive what He desires to do through the new; if we try to embrace bits of the new while trying to keep the old framework...it will eventually crumble and we find ourselves back at 'square one'. We have to choose to move past the old and embrace the new; the old may never 'officially die' but rather provide lessons we carry with us as we embark on the new.
Often when making a change to something new, we pull back when we meet resistance or it doesn't quite bring the results we had hoped for in the time frame expected. But what if the resistance was part of the new process? It's certainly easier to trust Him when things are going our way and change merits timely results; but He desires us to trust Him through the challenges, through the trials, through the resistance, walking confidently in whatever change He has laid on our hearts and minds to make and trusting that He is molding us through the journey. His timing. Regardless of the wait time. His will be done.
As I recently learned, there is no Hebrew word equivalent to our English word 'obey'...the word translated is typically 'shema' which means to hear. You see, 'to hear' in that time was to do, to follow and fulfill what the Lord brought to you. But to hear, you must listen; and to listen, you must make time. In the midst of embracing something new, time to listen is critical to combat doubt.
The enemy would love nothing more then for you to stay in the old, comfortable thing...to distract us from hearing and put doubt in our midst. Keep choosing His new mercies each morning.
So, what's He laying on my/your heart and mind to change, to 'shema'? Whatever it is...
Choose His new. Choose daily, by the minute, however many times doubt enters your thought process. Choose His new, even when it's hard.
Choose His new.
And, as for that old blender...the base I'm hanging on to, as it serves a specific purpose of having a lower setting to help blend a couple of specific recipes; but the jar that had run its course...finally gone. The new blender is working marvelously. If only habits and behaviors were as simple as finally choosing to change out a blender on the counter. One step at a time...shema.
