Jesus Makes All Things New

The Easter Season, which continues until Pentecost, is about resurrection. It is the perfect time to go to Jesus and ask Him to make all things new—to give you new life. And He will, He wants to, but will you let Him? Sometimes we leave the door open just a crack and peer out into the hallway as we cling to our old way of life as a child clings to his blanket.

We all do it. We dwell in the past; we get stuck in our ways.

We want to change, but we are afraid to do the work. Like the world-renowned philosopher-slash-cartoon phenom Bart Simpson once said to his father Homer about being on his best behavior, "I'll TRY to TRY."

We try to try without taking the leap into total commitment. We are too afraid if we don't do things the way we've always done them, things will unravel and fall apart. In effect, we know that's just fancy talk for not fully trusting God, but we are humans after all, and fear is something we must deal with in this life.

How do we deal with it? Well, of course, prayer. But sometimes, anxiety even sneaks into our prayers. Am I praying correctly? Did I say that the right way?

Mark Twain once said something brilliant about habits that always stuck with me: "Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time."

Jesus wants to give us new life, but you'll never become a pro-athlete if you've been spending most of your days on the couch. God wants to meet us where we are at— and I find that refreshing. Jesus can be the only person in the world I can be completely and totally honest with all of the time. And that's where the relationship grows.A

It's not easy. I often think the hardest thing in the world might be to put all your trust in God. And yet, I'm called to do it, again and again.

If you want to make a change, but you feel like Bart Simpson and can only commit to a feeble attempt at possibly trying to try, then consider asking for a greater desire to change. Ask God to show you the next right move. He knows us better than we know ourselves; all-knowing, we can't edit who we are with Him.

A good friend of mine recently said to me, "God is so good all the time, and I know 100% it's on me to do the work to have an actual relationship with Him." I told her that I had felt the presence of Jesus earlier that morning. It was almost like He was standing before me in my kitchen, and I immediately got teary-eyed—my usual indicator that God is trying to get my attention. Tears of mercy and healing, I've heard people say.

Recently while washing the dishes, an unpleasant memory of my sin came swooping, smack in the middle of what had been, until that moment, a lovely day. And I couldn't let it go. I kept trying to rationalize it, pray it away, and ask for forgiveness even though I have asked countless times. It was almost like I was letting the memory haunt me, and I intensely disliked the feeling. Suddenly, it felt as if Jesus were standing in front of me, kindly but tenderly asking me: "Do you really think I died on the cross for your sins so that you could dwell on them?"

No, I thought. No, I don't.

And yet, I do it. I do dwell on the past.

The past can sneak up on any of us, at any given moment, like a bad movie scene replaying in our minds—except, unfortunately, it's not a Hollywood film we're remembering—it's the things we are the most ashamed of slipping into our consciousness.

In 'Rhapsody of a Windy Night,' the famous poet T.S. Eliot writes the beautiful and slightly tragic line, "Midnight shakes the memory as a madman shakes a dead geranium." The night falls, and people tend to re-live their worst mistakes or wrestle with their worst fears. But no one is immune from dwelling—we can all get lost in the past and want to change something about it. Although we can't go back, we can ask God to heal us, to give us new life.

In addition to praying before falling asleep, one activity I like to keep me from wallowing in the past is to list ten things that made me happy in the last couple of days. Silent prayer can also work wonders on a person's life and peace of mind. A book that helped me go deeper into the idea of silent prayer is Time for God by Father Jacques Philippe. It's one of those books that gets highlighted endlessly and marked with my handwriting in the margins and a catalyst to my talking more often to God.

We can also take this Easter Season to ask God to heal and strengthen our families. If you are clinging to resentment or feel distanced from a spouse or a sibling, don't be afraid to ask God to help you. He is waiting for you to open the door of your heart for you to share everything, every day, without ever editing yourself.