All Things New

How one simple idea can change your holidays forever

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5)

Being raised in the Christian tradition, we talked and heard a lot about newness. That someday God would come and make everything new. Someday. After things were bad for a while, and after that got so bad that some people would stop being believers as a result, he would come and fix it all.

Someday.

In the future.

There was precious little said about what we needed to do now or what we could do now to change things or make things new.

The reason?

Because God would be coming back someday to do it himself and so we did not need to do anything.

This mentality has led to all kinds of horrible abuses and poor behavior on the part of humanity, particularly in the Western world.

And so, here we are, a mere week away from Thanksgiving and the winter holidays, and people are losing their minds. With a global pandemic still devastating the United States, questions are arising as to what the holidays are going to look like. If we can even celebrate them with our families. Depression, frustration, and anger are setting in as states begin to reimpose travel restrictions and business closures.

The fearmongering continues as well, in the guise of love for family.

Now I totally get it. In the words of someone much more famous than me,

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime

But has it crossed our collective minds that we have an opportunity here to start something new as well?

When God said that he was “making everything new”, the way it was always read to me and interpreted for me has a fatal flaw. It was read and then stated as something that God would do in the future sometime. But the words are spoken as if it is something that God is doing as she says it. God is currently making everything new.

To step outside of religion, what we see is that time makes everything new just as it passes from one era to the next. One month to the next. One day to the next. Every moment is a new moment and an opportunity to make things new.

Current research is showing that simply doing the bare minimum (wearing a mask, social distancing, and limiting group capacity in buildings) is enough to keep the spread of COVID-19 under control. All without imposing full lockdowns as we saw at the beginning of the year.

The implications for the holidays are that you can still have your gatherings, but make them smaller. Ask yourself who you actually want at your holiday table. Invite your closest family and make it a more intimate affair.

Start a new tradition. Maybe you are not able to go visit your grandma at the nursing home this year, so, instead, find a way to bring her to you via video chat.

Share a food recipe with your family and plan to prepare the dish and eat it at the same time even if you are far away from each other. Send gifts and open them via Zoom.

Do what works for you. Create a new tradition. This is an opportunity to start something fresh and make new memories. And if things go back to being more like we are used to in the future, incorporate those new ideas and practices into your existing traditions.

Stop living in fear and embrace life to its fullest. Everything is being made new. And you are being asked to participate in that renewal.

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If this piece has inspired you in any way, I would love to hear about it. Leave a comment or send me a message at jeremyzerbycoaching@yahoo.com. Feel free to share it as well. 2020 has been hard on all of us. And I would love to help you make it a little easier.