Monday Musings

I looked over my past posts and saw that I wrote about my "Monkey Mind" a month ago on a Monday.  There is something about Mondays for me!  I had a busy weekend with pickleball, a family St Patrick's party, church and watching the Grammy's. 

Yesterday I not only watched the Grammy's but also read through the New York Times magazine section about the top 25 songs of the year according to them.  With both of these I find I feel old and  lost - songs and artists I have never heard of and musical styles that  are unfamiliar and for this 71 year old - weird..  I think maybe I would like it if I listened to it enough.  I usually stick to what I know already.  We use alexa and ask for music of the 70's or the 80's or Frank Sinatra or the Beatles.

In my book group we have been reading slowly through Pema Chodren's Welcoming the Unwelcome.  Last week we talked about moving out of our comfort zone into a places of growth.  I recognize that the lure of the familiar is so appealing.  Same foods, same music, same authors, same TV shows, same, same, same.  Familiar, comforting and yet somehow ......after a while it does feel like same old, same old. There is not joy or delight - just comfort.

The scripture today was from Isaiah in which the prophet says that God is "creating a new heaven and earth.  Be glad in what I am creating." 

I wonder how much I am ignoring the new creations around me in favor of the traditional, the familiar, what has spoken to me in the past. Pre pandemic,  Gender Road Christian Church had two distinct worship services - the contemporary with the praise band and the traditional with choir and organ.  At first, I was comfortable in the traditional and almost suspicious in the praise service.  After a year and a half the songs and the style of the first service have become very meaningful to me.  I am touched by the sounds and the words. It took more than a week - but it took!

And, so on this Monday I hope that I am open to God's invitation to growth - however it comes.  God save me from my reliance on the safe and the secure and the familiar.  Push me, open me, grow me.

May the God of NEWNESS be with you,

freshening you with renewed energy and awakening you with new perspectives on old visions.

May you be free enough to let go of what is stake and used up

and to embrace what is new and full of promise.

May God's grace be with you as you wrap yourself in what is right, if unfamiliar,.

May you look upon your life and your ministry with the eyes of God,

ever new and ever transforming.

May the God of NEWNESS be with you.