All Things New

Image by Siggy Nowak on Pixabay

 

“The house seems to be falling apart.”

It was only seven years ago that the Lovely Lady and I purchased her childhood home and, leaving our comfort zone far behind, labored for several months to make sure the house was ready to be lived in.  We installed new appliances, replaced floors and ceilings, and generally spiffed up the inside spaces.

Set for life.  I’m pretty sure those were the words I used when we moved our furniture, artwork, and books into the beautiful space.  I was certain we had done good work, purchasing quality materials, and planning for future needs.

Now, it’s falling apart.

Oh, it’s not really falling apart.  But, the sprayer in the kitchen sink gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago, prompting me to order a new one from an online superstore (which shall remain nameless).  The replacement arrived and was duly installed, only to fail within five days.  I sent it back and went to visit the local building supply.  We’ll see how long this replacement lasts.

Then, last week, our kids and grandkids came for a visit (as they do most weeks).  Having eaten a little too much for supper, I suggested to the Lovely Lady that we take a walk right after bidding the rowdy bunch a loving goodbye.  We returned to a house that was much warmer than the outside temperature.

With help from YouTube, I figured out what was wrong with the air conditioner compressor and effected a repair, but not before an encounter with a mathematically challenged sales rep at the local home repair center.  He was kind enough to accept a return of the part he recommended in error and, still shaking his head in confusion, sent me on my way.

It’s cool inside again, but some part of me—the non-logical part—tells me the house is falling apart.

I keep installing new parts in old gadgets. The refrigerator, the stove, the storm doors.

It’s the only way I know to keep them functioning.

The Teacher had something to say about new parts in old things.

Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.  (Matthew 9:16, NLT)

I know—it’s not the same thing; I’m not comparing apples to apples, as the red-headed lady who raised me would have said.  Still, it seems incongruous—putting new parts in old machinery.

Sooner or later, the old parts remaining in the device will fail and I’ll throw away the entire affair, new parts and old alike.

It will all fall apart eventually.

And, without invitation, the fatalism that has eaten at my core for years shows up anew.  I’ve said the words before.  To my shame, I’ve said them.

“What’s the use?”

I want to blame that red-headed lady, the one who raised me.  She had so many catchphrases to prove her point.

“It’s just par for the course.”
“It is what it is.”
“Why would I expect anything better?”
“The story of my life!”

I want to blame her, but it’s not her fault.  It’s not.  The human reaction to change and challenges is to believe the worst—to foresee failure.  Even when we’ve experienced triumphs again and again we somehow seem to expect that the next time, we may not rise from the ashes victorious.

Change is hard.  It pushes us to the edge of our abilities and even the limits of our hopefulness. 

And sometimes, we do fail.  Or, we experience losses.  Despite all our blessings, we begin to anticipate the rough times.

Just last week, as I talked with a younger friend entering his middle years, I realized the pattern starts early.  He spoke of difficulties, of challenges ahead, and even of losses behind.  I tried to reassure him that good things still lie ahead, but in retrospect, I think my private doubts might have made my words a little dubious.

I’m not alone.  Many I know are uncertain in these tempestuous days.  Almost without exception, we wonder where our world, our country, and our communities are headed.  And, then there are the personal issues: our families, our neighborhoods, our work, even our faith communities.

Can I say this?  I may not have been resolute enough in my affirmation of good things ahead with my young friend, but I am absolutely certain of one thing.

Our Creator is making all things new.  Even now, it is happening.  It’s what He does.

“For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”
(Isaiah 43:19, NLT)

New.

Not refurbished.  Not repaired.  Not mended.

New.

If we are truly followers of Christ, we have already been made new in Him.  But, the day is coming when all around us will be made new.

He promised.

All new.

I’m ready for that.

Until then, I’ll keep repairing the things that break. 

And counting my blessings.

 

And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.'”
(Revelation 21:5, NLT)

“A man builds a fine house, and now he has a master and a task for life: he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair the rest of his days.”
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2024. All Rights Reserved.

 

New Patches

It’s not something I see every day.  Perhaps, if I had lived a century ago it wouldn’t have seemed so unusual.

The Lovely Lady and I were headed to visit one of our favorite shops in a neighboring town when we saw the long, black slabs of treated wood lying along the railroad tracks.  It’s odd, but most of us don’t give a second thought to trains and the metal rails they travel on these days.

As we drove along the road running parallel to the tracks, we began to see yellow vehicles ahead of us.  For a moment, it appeared to be a group of school buses, but, drawing nearer, we realized the machinery was riding on the rails. 

There were four or five long pieces of equipment, each one with the same large steel wheels running along the tracks in much the same manner as a train.  These vehicles had a different purpose than carrying freight, though.

The huge creosote cross ties—the ones we had seen for several miles before—were lying under the boom arm of one of the machines.  Another one, running ahead of the boom-armed contraption, had a pneumatic device that hammered out the old, worn-out ties.  Then the new tie was maneuvered under the rails by the boom arm.  After it was set into place, another machine hammered home the spikes that held the rail to the tie underneath it.

railroadcrewThat’s not the way it used to be done.  It used to take an army of men, with crowbars, saws, and sledgehammers to do the job of these three or four machines.  Everyone had an assignment and it took all that manpower to do the job, too.

Backbreaking labor was what it was.  The rails weighed tons, the ties somewhat less.  Still, they were heavy and hard to manage.  There were always lots of dusty, scuffed pairs of boots on the ground when the railroad was undergoing maintenance.

On that recent day, as I marveled at the technology, I realized that I was seeing not one set of boots on the ground.  Each machine was operated by a single person who, undoubtedly, simply babysat the process.  The functions themselves are programmed, measured, and completed by computers and motor-driven mechanisms.

The thought hit me.  The relatively ancient technology of the railroad is being repaired and maintained by cutting edge technology.

What a dichotomy!  The old rails are relatively unchanged since the nineteenth century.  The huge steel bars are still attached to the cross-ties underneath them to maintain the correct spacing for the wheels of the heavy cars in much the same way as they have always been.

The first trans-continental railroad was completed just a few years after the first commissioner of the United States Patent Office suggested (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) that we might be coming to the end of the need for new patents.  It was the mid-nineteenth century.

The technology in use is over one hundred and fifty years old!  Yet, the technology which maintains that ancient system utilizes the newest advances in human knowledge and ability.

I laughed as I considered the foolishness.

Incrementalism.

We hate change—real change, that is.  We are happy to accept changes in the way we prop up our old ways, but refuse to tolerate even the slightest suggestion of a complete reversal in direction.

The Teacher addressed our problem with incrementalism in His time on earth.

I suggested recently that He came as a disruptor.  

He came, not to change the way the game was played, but to change the game itself.

He came, not to change the way the game was played, but to change the game itself. Share on X

Somehow, I think many of us would view Him in the same way as the religious folk of that day, should He come and walk among us again in our generation.  We would be just as angry at this rebel as they were.  

We might even demand His death.  Again.

You don’t sew patches of new cloth into an old coat and expect to continue wearing the old coat for many more years. (Matthew 9:15-17)

I count myself in the company of Pharisees.  Honesty leaves me no choice but to admit it.  There is certainly ample proof.

Even tonight, as that scripture was brought to mind, I considered it in the same light in which I have considered it for all of my nearly sixty years.

You don’t sew new patches into old cloth, you close up the holes with old cloth.

That is how my mind thinks.  I believe, truth be told, it is how we as humans generally think.  The problem is, it’s not what He meant at all.

It’s not what He meant.  

The epiphany is staggering for me.  Absolutely staggering.

rags-245431_640What am I doing wearing old clothes when the King has made me His son?  Why in the world would I even consider what to patch the fabric with?

Old clothes?  I’ve got the newest and best threads that are to be found—anywhere!

He makes us new!  

How in the world would He leave us doing the same old trash we did before?

How is the same filth going to come from our mouths still?

How could our relationships continue on as they were?

Change is never easy.  It isn’t comfortable.

He never said it would be.

He did promise to be with us every step of the way.  (Matthew 28:20)

Everything changes.  

New technology doesn’t need to be developed to prop up old norms.  We don’t need to come up with new ways to breathe life into old worn-out methods.

He does the breathing of new life.  He always has.

Cutting edge.  (Hebrews 4:12)  

It’s all there is.

Word.

His.

 

 

Did I ever tell you the story of the man who cut off his little dog’s tail a little bit at a time?  He didn’t want it to hurt so much.
(W Paul Whitmore ~ American storyteller/sage ~ 1921-2006)

 

The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end.
(Henry Ellsworth ~ 1st Commissioner/U.S. Patent Office ~ 1791-1858)

 

 

 

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2016. All Rights Reserved.