First post of 2017!! Woooo!! Now let us jump right in to what I would like to share.
I am that person who will see a post on social media that calls out people for taking forever to respond, sending multiples messages instead of just sending one or even wearing too much black, and my comment will be “ME!”. If it’s one thing I am not scared to do is acknowledge those things I can improve on.
As a Christian the concept of being transformed and renewed plays this major part in my life. I am always asking God to change my perspective, help me see things differently, grow and be better. I get hyped when we sing choruses like ” I’m a new creation, I’m a brand new man, old things are passed away, I’m born again! More than a conqueror, that’s who I am, I’m a new creation, I’m a brand new man”. Now you may be asking, what’s the point of mentioning all of this?
Recently I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, and a specific kind of person was described, and I measured that person up to myself and I was like “hmmmm…. that’s me”. As I was reflecting on this conversation recently, every time I thought about what was said I repeatedly thought- that’s me, it seems that I have some changes to make in my character. This conversation just kept playing over and over in my mind, then the questions suddenly arose- why do you need to change? why do you keep identifying with this? why do you keep claiming it as a part of who you are right now? Don’t you realize that this is not who you are anymore? This was who you were and you have progressed beyond this, and the reason why you may find yourself occasionally struggling with this issue is because every time someone mentions it or says something of that regard you reclaim it as a part of who you are- you say- that’s me.
Aren’t you a new creation though? A brand new man? Aren’t old things passed away? So why is it that after you have overcome you are still trying to hold that issue close to your heart? Trying to engrave it into your character again? Isn’t the problem now seeing yourself in a new light and embracing who you are and not who you were?
Now imagine my surprise when I realized that I hadn’t truly embraced what it meant to be a new creature, though old things were passed away, I was anchoring myself to these past things, and pulling them back into my present by reclaiming them as part of who I am.
When Paul spoke to the Corinthian church he said ” Such WERE some of you” (1 Cor. 16:11) but many of us are still struggling to embrace the “new me”. Its easier to recognize ourselves with the struggle than without it. We can’t imagine ourselves without it, because we have had the issue for so long. It’s easier to embrace something we recognize and know is bad for us than to embrace something new, simply because we can’t imagine our lives without the bad or with something else. Essentially the “you” that is to come in the future is a stranger. The simple example of a vegetarian versus an omnivore makes this so clear to me- an omnivore will say I can never imagine myself not eating meat, I can never embrace such a strange concept, but meat I will always embrace, because meat I know and love. I have heard vegetarians say the same thing….. sometimes all it takes is that one small step toward embracing the strange, new, foreign you while slowly relinquishing the things of the past.
I guess the first lesson I have learned in 2017 is pay attention to what you say, and stop reclaiming the things of the past that you have overcome as your present condition. Embrace the growth, embrace the development- check your stats. Don’t feel guilty for changing and out growing some things, and don’t allow people to make you feel guilty for maturing, growing up and moving on. Don’t fight to stay where you were. No one wants to be the snake simply because of what the meaning implies, but one thing the snake is good at is shedding its skin. Once it outgrows its old skin it sheds and moves right along- this is a quality I will definitely adapt from the snake- shedding skin.
-Ashley #followerof Jesus
