“See, I am making all things new,” we hear God announce in our second lesson today. Several things get my attention in that short proclamation. First, we are called to see, to open our eyes, to look at what God has prepared for us. Seeing God’s hand at work requires taking our blinders off so that we can see it all, not just the view on which we choose to focus. It requires paying attention; God’s presence is seldom announced with the sound of trumpet or in bold letters on a billboard. The Holy One often works in subtle ways, beginning infinitesimally small yet growing until we finally notice, as we are reminded in Jesus’ parables of the mustard seed and the yeast mixed in the dough (Lk.13:18-20).

The second thing I notice is the phrase “all things,” all, not just some, not just a few, not one or two, but absolutely all. This is the love of God birthing all creation day-by-day, you and me, the myriad things the psalmist noted today in his paean of praise, “the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home,” all, nothing left out, excluded, or forgotten. God’s love is all encompassing; nothing escapes divine attention.

And then there’s NEW. That is certainly how I have experienced the Divine at work in my life. Just let me get settled in and something new pops up. If I am at ease with the status quo, change is sure to be lurking around the corner. At first glimpse, the new thing might not look very much like a blessing to me. In fact, it might feel discouraging, painful, frustrating, upsetting. When I look back, however, over all the new things that have come my way over the years and see what God has birthed in and through me time and again, I know it is the grace of God that has been making all things new in my life and, I trust, in yours. May we be open and receptive to the new, whatever it may be, however it may come our way, ready with an unconditional yes to that which is and will be (My prayer paraphrased from David Richo’s When Love Meets Fear, p.80, the Stone Soup Book Group’s book for this month).