Behold, I make all things new

What is it we like about starting a new year? After all, Jan. 1 is just the next day after Dec 31. What's the big deal?

Well, the big deal is that we all have things in our lives that aren't quite what we want them to be. We all have habits that leave something to be desired. We all have memories of disappointments, failures, and losses. So we thrive on the opportunity to start again -- to make things new.

This feels like our chance to change directions, shift our focus, or recommit to previous commitments. Turning the page on the calendar allows us to turn a page in our lives, leaving behind what is worn out or doesn't serve us well any longer. And the new page is refreshingly blank, waiting for us to write a new story on it.

So what are we going to write on this page? Have there been past years when our new story was just a repeat or continuation of the old story? How will we do things differently this year so that we fill this page of our lives with something that truly is new?

There is a power in our lives that can make all things new for us. This is the power of love. Real love is transformative. In the presence of love, all things are made new.

We don't have to go looking for Love. Our lives often seem to be an enactment of the sad song, "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places." If we are looking anywhere for love outside of ourselves, we are looking in the wrong place.

Love is God, and God is love, and it is the very essence of our being. It is within us, whether we know it or not.

If real spiritual love is within us and is our essence, how come it can be so hard to find? I have a clue for you: Look underneath your ego. Regardless of whether your ego is choosing fear, anger, pride, apathy, or arrogance, if you can get under all these unpleasant feelings, you will find love. Love is at your center. Always.

Now, getting back to this new page we are writing in our lives … we will discover that the story we create in our lives is totally new and totally different when we begin to see through the eyes of love rather than ego. Instead of anger, we will feel compassion. Instead of hostility and resentment, we will feel forgiveness. Instead of competition in our relationships, we will experience cooperation. Instead of separation, we will experience oneness. Instead of fear, we will feel faith. Instead of greed, we will experience generosity. Instead of apathy, we will feel gratitude.

Notice how all these things come from the inside. There is nothing here that someone else can give us. But the good news is, no one needs to give it to us because it is freely available to all of us all the time.

We just need to dig deeply enough within ourselves to get beneath the ego.

When we begin living from love, our lives change from the inside out.

As our perceptions, attitudes, and feelings change, our actions will follow suit.

Soon, we'll begin seeing changes in our relationships, our health, our work life, and the opportunities that come our way. The old has fallen away, and behold, love within has made all things new.

May 2004 be filled with many blessing!

Delisa Renideo is the Spiritual Leader of Unity Church of the Valley in Wasilla. She can be reached at 373-1526.