Forget The Former Things

                         Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, (Isaiah 43:18-20)

It is like your gardening   You picked your garden spot! (Erie). You are now planted. This past year you have had time to get your job, church, and form relationships .(Growing strong roots) Then the healthy plant sets out blossoms   (reaching out to projects and community). Soon the   will show up and you will have wings. (As you had started to do at Hillcrest). You will no longer feel lost. You are (Adulting- a word you often use)  in anyway you choose. You go girl!!! Happy for you!  (Maxine Bowman)

I think I’ve found my theme verse for autumn, or maybe for next year. As I’ve noted several times in recent days, I seem to be dealing with a transition to not transitioning, or at least to not transitioning the same way. It’s not that I want to make the old transitions. It’s that I’m so used to doing them that some part of me is determined to live in the past, insisting that I do what I have done so many times. In other words, I’m breaking a habit, which might also be considered the notion of dwelling in or on the past.

The quote below today’s passage is something a friend sent me (and from what she said about it, it was from God.) It describes a good way to think about the past. It’s the ground from which one grows oneself and other things. I’ll extend the metaphor because there are times when gardeners need to add soil or remove stones, and times when one needs to dig up the soil and add nutrients to it. But these things aren’t done often. In the same way, digging up the past should only be done rarely and with the specific purpose of improving the ability of the past to support the present and future.

Instead, God told the Israelites to pay attention to what was happening, to the new thing God was doing. We are part of that new thing and what God does in us is often new to us. Even if it’s a repeated action, the soil from which we grow has changed a little. We may not have put down our roots in just that spot, or just that combination of nutrients, even if it all looks like dirt. Oh, and have you not heard? Manure makes good compost once it’s aged, so when you find yourself up to your eyes in it, just look up and realize that you’ll grow.

Now, one last quick thing. When God works in us, He produces fruit that will not only nourish other people, but will make streams in a wasteland and a home for  wild animals like owls and jackals.