God’s Newness

 
In a new year I like to focus on God’s newness.  The old has passed, the new has come.  January first marks a time to put the old behind us.  No matter how bad the previous year was, we can say that it was last year and we are in a new year with endless possibilities.

It’s for this reason that I am focusing January’s devotions on newness and things that God declares to make new in the Bible.  Despite my liking of newness, I was very surprised at something new today.

I live on the east coast and got two feet of snow a week before Christmas.  Currently the temperature has been dropping into the teens and single digits overnight and the high hasn’t made it out of the 20’s in several days.

All of this left me absolutely shocked to look out my office window in my basement and see four irises popping up out of the ground by about an inch.  Even in the middle of winter (actually only two weeks into it!) I’m reminded that spring is coming.  Soon blossoms will be out in full force and all of the oldness will be replaced by something new and beautiful.

Of course all of this serves as a reminder of how God makes us new as well.  He takes something that it is cold and dead and not that pretty and makes something wonderful out of it.  Praise God for His newness!