New Creation

Last week, my children returned to school. Well, at least three of the four of them did. Two of them, for full days of 1st and 3rd grade, the other for a 3-day-a-week preschool program. It is a bittersweet day for me as they head back to school. Not only does it signify the end of summer and a return to the fullness of the regular routine, but it also reminds me that the years are passing, and my children are growing up. Faster than I would like (most of the time).

So on that first day of school, my daughter heading into the 1st grade was a bit nervous. As I talked with her I tried to provide comfort by reminding her that this year will be a lot like last year, just for a few more hours each day (last year was a half day kindergarten). I reminded her that it was the same school, the same friends, the same daily snacks, etc. But to all of that she said "No, it's not. It's new."

What I started to figure out as I talked with her was, that although she was a bit nervous and scared, she was excited that it wasn't going to be just the same as last year. She was excited that it was going to be new. Me telling her that it was going to be the same was not what she needed to hear. She needed to hear that the "newness" (is this a word?) was going to be OK too. For her, the chance for "new" was what she was looking forward to the most.

Literally just a day or two after that first day of school, I was emailing with a college student from my church who is off to freshman year in college, and she told me that the best thing about college so far (she had been there for a couple of weeks at that point) was that it was all new. That she had a chance to recreate who she was, because no one approached her with predeveloped notions about who she was, what she liked, and what was important to her. Not only was it a new experience on almost every level, but she too became "new" in the midst of it.

I've often reflected on the words of the Apostle Paul in II Corinthians 5:17, when he writes that "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (TNIV) I have witnessed people become new creations, as Christ has entered into their lives and brought change into places of pain and hurt. It is good to become new.

We live in a world and in a time that is in deseperate need of re-creation, of becoming "new". On this 6th anniversary of 9/11, I pray for the day when the old has indeed gone, and the new has come.