In a foot of snow the day of the big snowmageddon blizzard at the beginning of January, I walked over to my neighbor’s apartment and made a snowman. The snow was all wrong for packing and we were fresh out of carrots and coal so he had a spoon for a nose and pickle slices for eyes. But he was perfect. 

I decided to learn to cook this year (not a resolution mind you, just a thing I wanted to do in 2025… totally different…) so I’ve made over-salted curry and under-salted falafel and one day I even made a bowl of cheerios. 

I opened a blank word document and put the title of my next novel on it, even though I don’t have a plot, just the inkling of a story. But I was so excited to open a blank page that I couldn’t help but put something new on it. 

We, as humans, love making new things. We’re constantly making food and starting businesses and painting and writing and sewing and building. From snowmen to curry we can’t seem to help ourselves. 

How much more does God want to make something new with us? 

As I rolled over in bed this morning and contemplated hitting snooze on my alarm (which would cut short my scheduled quiet time but allow me a few more minutes of shut eye) a song lyric from Taylor Swift popped into my head. While this is a daily, even hourly occurrence, this one hit different. The lyric was, “old habits die screaming.” 

I’d argue one of her more brilliant lines, but I’ll save you the English lecture on the talent and ingenuity it takes to reinvent a cliche. Instead, I’ll tell you that it got me out of bed and got me thinking. 

One of my favorite verses to plug into is Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” 

Talk about a fresh start that’s way better than what we could have hoped for. It’s not me at the helm anymore. THANK GOD for that. I was not doing so hot out here on my own. Now it’s Christ in me, and a life of faith. He is making a new thing in me. Jesus promises to make all things new a few different times in the old and New Testament, but in my opinion the coolest times are Isaiah and Revelation. Check it out: 

Isaiah 43:18-19 “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” 

Revelation 21:5-7 “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” 

Did you catch it? The promise of living water? It’s in both versions. He says he’ll make all things new and then even better, he promises to make the way. To provide the recipe. To walk through the wilderness with us, to conquer with us. 

The old habits have to go, and they won’t go easily. The Old Adam will kick and scream the whole way, snoozing alarms and over-salting the food as he goes. 

But he will go. That’s the whole point of faith. Believing that Christ is stronger than the other guy, and putting in the work, not to be saved, but to put the other guy to death every day so we can rise with Christ who makes all things new. My sins are white as snow and he’s making me into a new man. And he came armed with the proper tools so I won’t come out of this thing called life with a spoon for a nose and pickles for eyes. 

In Christ, we get a blank page. Now it’s about faithfully working with him to write our story.