It is difficult to think of a clean slate in life.
After all, whenever you start anything, there’s the tendency to refer to what had happened in the past. Much as experience can be a friend, it can also be a hindrance to embracing the new of the new.
There are glimpses available, though, of what it can be like to truly get into the swing of things when it comes to new beginnings. Especially when it’s a chance to start afresh having been oppressed with a way of life that had effectively stifled rather than encouraged.
When there is release, there is often the invitation to live a new life. It’s unsettling at first, there are questions as to what’s going on, which is reasonable. The thing about the new is the opportunity it brings. Not everyone is meant to go with you into the new. That’s part of the challenge and opportunity in the new.
There was the time when I started living on the halls of residence at the university I attended. First time I’d lived away from home. It was all new to me. New and disconcerting, weird and disorienting. There was the desire to revert back to the familiar. Thankfully, though, there were no familiar crutches to refer to. Even certain practices that I’d got used to couldn’t even find a new expression in this new area.
I am grateful for the grace that allowed me to discover what there was in the new designed to make me better. That took time to put on the proper lens to see what was in the new. That was not about using the old lens of life to perceive the new.
It wasn’t permission to go wild or to lose any sense of discipline. It was an invitation to something invigorating and refreshing. If I would see it for what opportunities it presented.
It’s something worth considering if you’re given a clean slate.
(Photo by Christian Joudrey on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 