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Same Tree, New Leaves: Letting go of the old to embrace the new



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Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19a ESV

 

I watched as our 47th President was sworn into office on a frigid Monday afternoon, in our nation's Capitol rotunda. In his speech, he proclaimed we are entering into the “Golden Age” of our country. Words of hope no matter what side of politics you are on, an age with gold sounds good. New administrations, new jobs, new city to live in, another birthday, or anniversary all bring opportunities for things that are new.

 

As I watched the Inauguration from the warmth of my living room, I looked at the cold and bitter landscape outside my window. Illinois is in the middle of a deep freeze and even though the Sun was shining, it is cold! We have snow on the ground from a winter blast a couple of weeks ago. That has not happened in a few years. Some of the trees are still holding a few flakes on their branches. I thought about how a few months ago these same branches were the bearers of green leaves that provided shade and playgrounds for the now fat and sassy squirrels in my yard. What happened to those leaves? Are they coming back?

 

In a few months we will see changes, again. One day you will be driving down the road and notice green, again. Leaves will make their debut as they usher in a new spring season. Are these the leaves that were here last year? No. They are new. The leaves that offered shade last summer dried up and fell to the ground. The blew away, were raked up and burned or were found underneath a mower in the last mow of the year. Winter replaces summer and what was once new, was now old and gone. Just like those leaves are not coming back, so are the seasons we once enjoyed or maybe endured. They are old. They are gone or will be soon depending on your journey.

 

This thought became a point of meditation when I was reading my journal Bible I have had for a few years. In my Bible are stories and notes that I had written over the past 5 years. These would be the same 5 years that I would not like to repeat, the lessons learned have been so valuable to me and others. In this quiet time, I would turn to a few pages in my Bible and see notes I wrote out of pain, but with hope that one day this trial would be over. Another page I saw where God pulled me through to victory and remembered what the day was like when I wrote that little nugget of inspiration by that scripture that brought me strength. As I reflected on these things I heard in my spirit the phrase, “Let it go.” No, it was not an inspiration from Disney. It was God showing me something about this season of the past. Though I lived through these things that filled my pages with ink and pencil, coffee stains and tears, they were no longer where I live. These leaves of my tree have fallen and are no longer there. Only the life changing lessons from the school of hardships.

 

As I listened more to God’s nudging, I discerned Him telling me to start a new Journal Bible and begin filling it with new stories and adventures. I realized He was telling me, that though the stories of the pain brought hope that God can and does deliver, we sometimes can stay in the past expecting the same leaves of our lives to sprout in our new spring. We can get our identity from these seasons and feel stuck. As I reflected on this it was like being tied down with bungee cords. You get just enough slack to move, but there is still something anchoring you in that past season that needs to be dealt with. It needs to let you go and go on with what God has for you in the new season. There are new leaves coming this spring and there are new things coming to you and to me from God. Seasons to write about. Experiences to live out. Trials to endure, but these are new. Not the same things that we have been freed from, but rather the things God wants us to move away from, create the distance like getting a new journal Bible with fresh pages to fill. New leaves.

 

If you find yourself being trapped by the past, maybe it is time for you to let it go. Start a new experience with God. Go on an adventure in your faith. Grow up and walk in the maturity you have obtained from the seasons you experienced. Start a new journal. Go back to church. Make new friends. Say you are sorry and heal a relationship. Let go of the excuses of why you are who you think you are. Start embracing the new leaves of your life in this new season and become who God is making you to be… like Him!

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