Noticing the New

"Dad, did you get new glasses?" I asked. He paused to think for just a moment before replying, "Yeah, I guess they are new to you!" The newness for him has worn off by now, but a lot has changed in a year, and I am just now noticing it all for the first time. 

Take the new sink knobs in the kitchen for example. You don't have to turn the left one ten degrees backwards anymore to get the water to stop dripping. 

There's a new Tropical Smoothie Cafe right outside our neighborhood and they finally finished that interstate exchange where there has been construction for what seemed like twenty years. 

There are all new songs on the radio and new movies and shows that people are talking about. 

The other day at the checkout in the grocery store, my mom stuck her credit card in this device, and it kept her card and wouldn't let go until the transaction finished. "What is that?" I exclaimed, and she explained that the new chip technology helps prevent theft and fraud. 

Once, when offering to take me out for ice cream, my mom told me I could pick anywhere I wanted to go. "Really, I just want good 'ole Blue Bell," I said. "Uh oh," she replied. "I have to tell you something." I then learned that Blue Bell put out a bad batch of ice cream this year that unfortunately led to a few people's deaths, so now the ice cream aisle is completely void forever of Blue Bell. I would totally still eat Blue Bell, even if it meant risking my life, but I guess my Blue Bell purchases alone aren't enough to keep them in business. 

My mom laughs at me every time I notice something new. It's a joyful laugh, the kind that reminds us of how much has changed around us and yet how quickly we adapt to it. For some reason, newness brings joy, but it's a joy that we lose too quickly and so we have to constantly satisfy it with new "new" things. 

I notice the new in people, too. In a year, people grow up. Some get taller or more talkative, more outgoing or more sensitive, more mature or more lighthearted. I hope people notice the new in me, too. Because after a year of living in Africa, you have to admit some things have changed about me as well. I hope people notice the newness and laugh because it's a newness that brings joy and reminds us of how good and faithful our God is to change us, grow us, and mold us. 

That's what I am thankful for this year. When the turkey is carved and the family gathers around the table and we contemplate what we are thankful for, I turn my thoughts towards the newness. This year was all-new. New home, new people, new culture, new language. New experiences and lessons to learn. A new perspective of the world and of my teeny-tiny place in it. A new vision of the vastness of our God and his generosity to involve teeny-tiny me in his plan for the world. A new love and adoration for the One who has made me into a new creation and is continually making me into something new. He gives me new mornings every day and new revelations of himself. And one day, he will make all things new with a new heaven and a new earth. 

Yes, I am thankful for the newness. It's a newness that brings joy, and it reminds me how easy it is habituate myself to life and lose the wonder of noticing and celebrating newness. 

I want to the notice the new in you, and I want you to notice the new in me. Then together we will join in thanksgiving to the One who makes things new. May this not just be a thanksgiving, but a thanks-living. It's a living in the newness of life and breath each morning and the adventures of following Jesus everyday.