I Will Do Something New
M. Jolaine Szymkowiak, MA-EM
Isaiah 43:18-19
It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day things of life. Then something happens, someone mentions a name, a situation, the newscaster tells a story that brings a memory of long ago. We remember the way things were, remember something that may be good or bad, that brings joy or sorrow. The question so often asked, "Remember the good old days?"
It is good to remember past events in our lives. It is quite another to want to live that memory over and over again. "Things were always better back then." Whether they were or not, we will really never know.
A friend came to me recently. She was in a new job and had moved to a new area of the state. She was having a hard time adjusting to where she now lives. The job was not quite what she expected and disappointment overwhelmed her. In her disappointment the remembrance of her life before in her old job and home now became the catalyst for concern. She was constantly remembering the old job, people, her home in a far greater light than they had been in reality.
Because this job was so vastly different from anything she knew, bringing the old job into the new through remembering brought along with it difficulties of its own. "I don't care how it was done before in some other place, I want it done this way." Something new was needed. A new outlook, a different perspective, a new way of looking at her life.
Upon leaving, I gave her the following scripture: "Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:18-19).
Some weeks later I had the opportunity to again meet with that friend. What a change! She liked her job and was doing well in it. She had given her new home her personality making it a place of comfort to come home to after a b ...
M. Jolaine Szymkowiak, MA-EM
Isaiah 43:18-19
It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day things of life. Then something happens, someone mentions a name, a situation, the newscaster tells a story that brings a memory of long ago. We remember the way things were, remember something that may be good or bad, that brings joy or sorrow. The question so often asked, "Remember the good old days?"
It is good to remember past events in our lives. It is quite another to want to live that memory over and over again. "Things were always better back then." Whether they were or not, we will really never know.
A friend came to me recently. She was in a new job and had moved to a new area of the state. She was having a hard time adjusting to where she now lives. The job was not quite what she expected and disappointment overwhelmed her. In her disappointment the remembrance of her life before in her old job and home now became the catalyst for concern. She was constantly remembering the old job, people, her home in a far greater light than they had been in reality.
Because this job was so vastly different from anything she knew, bringing the old job into the new through remembering brought along with it difficulties of its own. "I don't care how it was done before in some other place, I want it done this way." Something new was needed. A new outlook, a different perspective, a new way of looking at her life.
Upon leaving, I gave her the following scripture: "Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:18-19).
Some weeks later I had the opportunity to again meet with that friend. What a change! She liked her job and was doing well in it. She had given her new home her personality making it a place of comfort to come home to after a b ...
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