All Things New

What do we do when life gives us lemons? Make lemonade! What do we do when a new cake recipe flops? Eat it anyway! What do we do when our plan A doesn't go as planned? Go to plan B! And maybe even plan C!

As a soap maker, things don't always go as planned. To my dismay (quite often), making bath bombs turns out to give me more frustration than joy! Conditions have to be just right in regards to the humidity in the air; and it's difficult in our Midwest climate to get that perfect low-to-no humidity day! I can plan to make several batches and have maybe only half of them turn out. If I'm lucky! So now what do I do with these bath blobs? Even though I consider my family to be quite stellar in the hygiene department, we can only take so many baths to use them up!

So I have decided to take these bath blobs and make something new out of them! Bath Salts! Transforming these blobs into salts by changing their form, and perhaps adding some additional ingredients, makes a new creation! Eureka!! We are after all 'Creative Creatures' (see previous blog :)!

Fun fact for you ..... back in the early days of Disneyland a restaurant repurposed a load of stale tortillas they bought from a local vendor; this was birth of Doritos (which means 'little golden things'). So thankful for things repurposed into new things!! Yum!

We are currently living in the most fluid and changing times that we have ever seen; where we need to be malleable and create new things (or circumstances) out of the old. We are experiencing a new normal that before seemed unimaginable. Most of which we do not like....at all.

But what can we do about it? Not a whole lot. We can't control the circumstances, but we can control how we respond to them. We can have a positive attitude. We can focus on supporting and encouraging others. We can look for the glimmer of good, seek the silver lining. As humans, we are wired to respond to our experiences, which help us learn, grow, push forward, and adapt. We are created for new experiences! Even the ones we don't like. We are created to grow through what we go through!

What if through it all we sought the perspective of God, the One who made it all? We can't begin to know the mind of God, but we do know He is not afraid of change! In fact, He is all about new things! Especially when it comes to us, His most precious creation!

He loves us just the way we are! And so much so not to leave us that way!

"For if a man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. The old life is gone. New life has begun." 2Cor 5:17

In other words, He is renewing us daily (if we let Him!). He wants to renew our minds to a higher thinking, to not follow the world's ways (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23). He wants to renew our lives, to grow to love and live like Jesus. He wants to renew everything about us, our whole life, and transform it into all things new!

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. I will make all things new." Rev 21:5