2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come.”
I have a confession to make. It is something I have grappled with most of my life. My struggle came to my attention recently as I played with my two granddaughters at Pitts Park. One is 2. The other is 6. The 6-year-old really isn’t my granddaughter on paper, but she is in my heart.
I’d climbed to the top of the jungle gym so I could help the 2-year-old down the slide. Children of different ages surrounded me. Some with attentive parents, others with parents who were nowhere near.
I noticed a little girl, her hair disheveled, nose running, dirt on her cheeks, skinned knees, and a sweaty brow. She stood on the narrow bridge of the play equipment, with arms outstretched. Her head was tilted back as if she were on a stage at The Metropolitan, and she sang at the top of her lungs, “Let it go! Let it go!” from the very popular “Frozen” animated movie by Disney.
She finished the chorus with “The cold never bothered me anyway.”
So many of us carry guilt, resentment, disappointment, insecurity, worthless feelings, and past failures on our sleeves like the scarlet letter. We walk around with our heads tucked, hiding in the corners of life, afraid someone will notice us. Some of us spend a lifetime holding on to the things of the past, wishing life had been different, regretting choices we made, and harboring hurt like a festering boil on the center of our face.
For me, it’s failure. I beat myself up pretty good when I do not believe I have been successful, and I hold myself accountable for things that were completely out of my control.
The great part about God is He doesn’t. Success to God is measured quite differently than man. What might appear a failure to you and to me, God counts as a success. It’s all in the bigger picture. My grandmother used to say, “It’s only failure if you refuse to try again.”
Some of us need to stand outside in our yards or in our showers and sing like the little girl on the bridge, “Let it go! Let it go!”
I was talking with a friend recently. “What would we do if we could do it all over?”
I came to the determination that if I wanted to change something about my life, I needed to start now and change it. I don’t need a time-machine. I don’t need a “do-over.”
Let go of your disappointments. Let go of your past. Decide today you are a new creation in Christ. Decide today, you will be different.
