inding what’s new is always finding something that’s always been there but we weren’t aware of it. What’s new is my topic for the first month of the new year.
Phrases Posted on Facebook, January 2025
Waking up to a new day is a daily invitation to be love, to give and receive love and to be nourished by it. That never grows old and is always what’s new.
Every day what’s new has at least two sides . . . the side full of difficulty, tragedy, challenge, confusion, etc. The other side is full of meaning, friendships, love and possibilities. How are we called to live this two-sidedness? One day at a time, of course! For me the challenge is to trust. Can I live patiently without having an answer? Can I live into answers that show up by living them as Rilke pointed out to a young poet long ago.
Today is the celebration of Epiphany in the Christian tradition. It’s a day commemorating the wisemen showing up at the manger with their gifts for the baby Jesus. You and I have heard the expression,“She had an epiphany.” We have them when a wise-person intuition awakens inside us, and we receive the gifts of that visitation. I want to celebrate epiphany often, not just once a year.
With a new perspective, what is new is already recognizable. It’s a bit like taking a different road back home. To literally do this is refreshing. You see your home from another point of view, and along the way you might notice a lot of new thigs you didn’t know before. I like to tell myself to experience something new every day – a new recipe, a different schedule (like no schedule for a day), time to look at every geranium leaf on the windowsill. When I focus on something without expectations and with pure willingness, the world is full beyond full of newness and grace.
For me things don’t feel new when I try to “make” things happen. They are new when forcing stops. The projects, events, relationships etc. will unfold despite me. Allowing is different. I can’t call it an effort. It is about responding instead of commanding.
If at the start of the day we could intend to be gentle and welcoming in anticipation of the day’s unfolding, we will be what is new.
Every single day cells in our bodies end and new ones are born. Someone told me that all the cells in our bodies are replaced every seven years. Ending and becoming are always going on. Haven’t you noticed that the more we are able to let go of what is no longer useful, the more easily what’s new can emerge? One could think that ending is actually beginning. Having that be true I think we would mourn less and celebrate more.
It’s curious how much we want to sense and see something new to feel refreshed and engaged. We can’t expect it to come to us from the outside. We must invite it and open towards it. To have something new we can take the advice from Emily Dickinson: namely to “Dwell in possibility”