What’s New?

“Alright, who wrote their name on our brand new car?” Dad asked. That was in the 1930’s and cars were difficult to purchase, even at the ‘Thirty; Prices. The new shiny black car stood in our driveway. No reason for Dad to ask. Jim had just learned to write his name and the shiny black car was an empty slate. He scrawled JIM on it with a hard rubber ball.

New things were celebrated. My new dress made from the chicken feed sacks , a new pair of shoes, or summer wear – new overalls. I remember when Dad bought a cow. We all went outside to see this beautiful Jersey cow. We wanted a beautiful name because of her beautiful brown eyes. Her gift to us? Gallons and gallons of rich milk. Somehow we decided to name her Daisy after our Mom. I don’t think she liked it, but at least we settled on her middle name…not the first…Anna.

The fruits of our garden were not exempt.. As we sat down to eat supper, we didn’t know it was dinner then, Mom would exclaim about the new potatoes with the new onions and the new tomatoes and new lettuce for the salad. Then like a benediction, she would say, “And they all came from our own garden.”

What’s new? Ask a Scientist, a Painter, a Writer, a Composer, an Astronomer or a Medical Research person, a Computer Technician, and Inventor. Or ask King Solomon. Solomon said, What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9.

We all look for new mountains to climb, new experiences and new excitement. Just ask the avid video game player who searches for apps.

The problem with ‘new’, like a car is that sooner or later the ‘new’ would sport a ‘ding’. Who would be responsible for the new ding? I didn’t own a car until I was married. I remember the beautiful blue DeSoto that Ed and I honeymooned to Galveston in. Then in 1994, the red Cavalier Station Wagon. In 2005, we bought a tan Malibu. The first week we had it, I backed up and grazed a pickup. I was horrified, the first ‘ding’…singing Cha-Ching! Since we were both going slow, the damage was negligible.

The ‘new’ extended to new babies, new birthdays, new experiences, new learning. At my age, I watch for new aches and pains, but what intrigues me is the comparison of new-nesses.

When God created the heavens and the earth, did He delight in its newness?When a toddler learns to walk, to speak, when athletes break new records, when a new book lays on the table ready to be read, when Mom brings new freshly baked bread from the oven, the anticipation of sleeping on sheets that dried on the wash-line outside, a new notebook and a pen to write thoughts, all these speak of essence of newness.

Spring is my favorite month, for all the growth and greenness and flowers. Fall has its own beauty as do the other seasons, yet Spring fills me indescribable joy. Why?

When I was 8 years old, 74 years ago, I became a new creature in Christ. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! II Corinthians 5:17

What does that mean? A new creation, is there a danger of a ‘ding’ in a new creation? Can the ‘new’ in our lives be dented, bent, lose its luster or be lost?

Man continues to search for fulfillment and beauty in his life. Only in Christ Jesus can man find fulfillment and beauty. How I bless Grandpa Suderman for his statement that I heard in 1947 at the breakfast table in Watonga, Oklahoma. Grandpa read the scriptures tenderly. I have forgotten which scripture, but when he looked up from reading one verse, his blue eyes reflected wonder. He commented, “So many years I have read God’s Word in German and in English, yet I have never read this before.”

Now as I read the scripture daily, I understand what he meant more than sixty years ago. My heart quickens as I read through Exodus and Leviticus, I say, “I have never seen that before.” It is new!

What’s new? Seeing earth about me, everything has a new luster when I see an innocent babe’s face, a new Spring bloom, the green of the grass, a new friend, the song of the birds in the hush of morning, the drop of dew on a rose, and I could go on forever naming God’s gifts.

Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.Psalm 149:1

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him. Psalm 40:3

…and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:10

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24