making all things new

Opening Prayer:  Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are making all things new—even me.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-5

Journal:  How is Jesus making you new these days?

Reflection:  I don’t know where I came up with the idea that Jesus making all things new would happen suddenly and instantaneously in my life, but I have found that, more often than not, the kind of new I experience, this side of the new heavens and the new earth, comes about much more slowly.  In fact, it is a new that Jesus has been making for a long, long time.  Notice that he doesn’t say, “I will make all things new,” or even, “I have made all things new,” he says, “I am making all things new.”  In fact, it is something that is going on even as we speak.  Quite possibly, since the very moment when things went terribly awry in the beginning, Jesus has been at work, making all things new again, and will continue for all eternity.

He is even making us new.  The problem is that what we expect to be sudden and instantaneous, most likely will occur over time, with a good bit of struggle, the same way a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly.  The struggle and the pain and the turmoil is a necessary part of the transformation.  It is not a short and easy process, but still a good and beautiful one.  And it is likely to be so slow that we think nothing is going on, unless we pay careful attention.

So let us look for the new that Jesus is making, both within and around us.  It is there; be it ever so small and subtle at times.  Look hard, because when you finally see the tiny hints of new breaking through the soil of your soul, you will know for sure that God is up to something good and beautiful.  He, indeed, is making all things new.  Even you.  Thanks be to God!

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Help me see, Lord Jesus, the new you are making, both within and around me, so that I may fully receive and enjoy what you are up to.  Amen.