Into The Different
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“But new wine should be put into new leather bags.” Mark 2:22
I no longer make New Year’s resolutions. Oh, I have ideas and things I hope to accomplish, but experience has taught me only God knows how the year will unfold. Life happens. Unexpected changes occur, and our plans are destroyed. We resolve to eat healthier, take care of ourselves better, be a better person, write the bestseller and cure COVID! But then it is January 3rd, and we have already failed with our resolve. So now I pray and ask God for my word for the year. I can only handle one word not a long list!
My word for 2021 was “Surrender.” It has been a year of surrendering to God’s will, to changes I did not anticipate or choose, and to trusting God’s plan not mine. My word for 2020 was “Courage.” It was to have courage to take new steps and believe I could do it even in my fear. So, my word for 2022 is “Different.” My life is again different than I anticipated. I have been “Living in the Different” since 2015, but I have come to realize I have always taken a different path in my life and a different view from the norm. That is how God wired me.
Our world has been different since COVID entered in the late days of 2019. We have had to figure out how to work, shop, go to school, worship and be in relationships differently. Anxiety and fear have increased in these past years. We have faced unexpected deaths and losses because of COVID. We have different verbiage and routines.
Our lives have been different because of our own loss. The emptiness of our relationship fills us with a sense of despair and hopelessness. Is this what life will always be? This different hurts and almost stops us from living. Different feels negative and hurtful.
So why am I choosing “Different” as my word for 2022? I am accepting life is different because of loss. I cannot change that different. But if I want to continue living life fully, I know it is impossible to try doing what I have always done. I will always be missing someone. It will never be the same. I cannot put my old life or old self into this new year just like you cannot put new wine into old wine skins. They fall apart. So will I if I keep trying to do the same things in this new life. Doing the same thing but expecting different results is the definition of insanity. If I want to grow and actually live, I need to do something different – something different each day.
So this is why I have chosen the word “Different” for 2022. I am going to do something different each and every day. I am going to write down each evening what I did that was different. It could be a different thought, action, choice, relationship. How about doing it with me? It could be as simple as choosing to order something different from your usual at your favorite restaurant, go a different route home from work, or buy a different shampoo. Or maybe choose to react differently to someone. Be proactive in your health. Instead of watching TV, you read Scripture. Just each day do something different. You can keep what you have done the days before and just add to them. Or just do something once.
My hope is that by the end of 2022, as you and I live in our different life, we will be different and have a deeper relationship with Jesus through it. Different will not be bad it will just be different in a good way.
