New and old, 2 lenses for 20/20 vision
Do you ever encourage others to do something and then when YOU turn to do it, you can’t?
(Hand raised)
I excitedly challenged a group of friends to answer 10 questions reflecting on 2019, based on a great podcast I listened to. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-things-to-tell-you/id1450216100?i=1000459174449
I’ve sat for 45 minutes with the list and my journal gaping at me empty, acting shocked that I can’t seem to practice what I so passionately preached.
I realize I’m not so good at looking back. I excel at forward focus - I’m visionary and become buoyant with excitement over possibilities and new ideas.
New hairstyles
New journals
New furniture arrangements
New recipes
New clothes
New ideas
New projects
New books ! …
My brain easily jumps ahead and loves to ponder and plan all the details and boldly step into new things.
Looking back however, the synapses short circuit and I struggle to recall details, or feelings or how something affected me.
#1. “What was the best part of this last year?”
“Ask me about yesterday and maybe I’ll have an answer!”
#2. “What worked for you in 2019?”
“Hmmmm” - shrug - “I’m blank!”
I do realize it’s wise to look back and consider the old in order to have clearer vision for looking forward to the new. It’s just not easy for me.
One of my contact lenses corrects my vision for near and one for distance. My brain rebelled when I first put them in. But amazingly, it eventually adjusted allowing both perspectives to work in multifocal tandem.
Similarly my natural inclination may not feel comfortable with a backwards gaze as I prefer forward sight, but some discipline to leave the lens of retrospection on will begin to settle and find an ease. My vision can adjust to a broader landscape, seeing both.
2 lenses for visual acuity
I relish in the scriptures about “newness”.
I cling to being “…a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old has passed and the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
I breathe deeply into God’s steadfast love and mercies that are new every morning, Lamentations 3:22-23.
I daily put on the new self which is renewed after God’s image, Colossians 3:10.
And my hope is in the truth that “He is making all things new”! Revelation 21:5.
So where does the old fit with the new?
Can I wear both lenses and not lose my balance?
Paul seems to have written the correct prescription. He knew the value of looking back.
Remembering and Resolving.
In Ephesians 2:13 he instructs us to remember that we were separated from Christ and without hope but then he wisely turns the optical phoropter to blur the old and switching the lens, brings the new into focus.
In verse 13 he continues, “But now, in Christ Jesus, you’ve been brought near…”, and in verse 15 he points to where our focus should rest, in being a new person, reconciled to God.
A look back to the old seems to be an important step in gaining clearer vision for moving confidently, gratefully and missionally into the new.
There may be some really hard things to face if we engage in this process.
What did 2019 hold that you’d rather NOT remember?
Ask Jesus to be present with you as you look at it. I’ve found that inviting Him into the memory of hard things shows me where He was during that painful time.
He never leaves us. He was there.
What regrets do you carry from 2019?
Being honest and calling them out of the dark into the light has power to disarm them from holding a place in your past that is destructive.
He is faithful to lavish you with grace for every missed step.
Every willful act of rebellion.
Every wrong choice.
What was really good last year?
Analyzing the things that were life giving is a solace in view of the things that inevitably weren’t. Writing them down in a journal, through art, or giving voice to them with a friend, solidifies their value and place in your history and can act as a reminder and hope that there is life for you in this new year. This recall can also serve to guide you as you plan for the new year.
I’m preaching to myself!
It’s still not easy for me to recollect. My brain feels a little slack here,
but my desire to embrace the new God has for me in 2020 serves as a motivation to put some old glasses on, spend a little time glancing at what was, then putting on a new pair to gaze at what is yet to come.
