Newness

I had every intention of writing a thing or two while resting from card design, but when my laptop crashed while away from home after Christmas, I took it as a sign that I was meant to rest from everything. And so I did! I hope that you, too, enjoyed some rest in between the joyful chaos of Christmas and the brisk start of yet another new year.

But alas, one can only rest for so long before inspiration strikes, so here I am, twelve days into the new year, with this wish for you:

A new design. A new year. I love the sound of this particular new year: two thousand and ten. 2010. It looks good and sounds good.

But I'll be honest, newness kinda scares me. Whether it's a new year, a new group of people, a new computer or even new clothes, newness isn't my favorite thing. Fear of the unknown maybe? Fear of change for sure.

Whatever it is that lies beneath my silly fear, I've found one way to combat it: look for the little things that make newness appear BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL...like new-fallen snow.

I don't usually like cold weather. In fact, I chose a college based on weather (Northwestern looked good on paper, but this Texas girl was freezing her boots off in May! I can only imagine January's chill factor!). But while in Maine after Christmas this year, I found myself enjoying, REALLY enjoying, the new-fallen snow. And this time, I didn't just ski or sled in the snow, I walked in it, laid in it, ENJOYED it! I especially enjoyed putting a new set of footprints in the snow on my walks...and then turning around to find that they were almost covered by NEW snow yet again!

And then I returned to Houston, where we've actually had our own glorious week of winter (cold temperatures with sunshine and blue skies). And just as I was beginning to default into that fear of all things new/what-to-do-next kind of paralysis, I saw this outside my kitchen window:

Yet another distinct symbol of newness. This brave, bright green bud stands strong and hopeful against today's blue sky, despite the recent freeze that threatened to shrivel God's plans for it to grow.

So I am once again inspired. How about you? Does newness inspire you? Does it scare you? How do you embrace it, look forward to it, tackle it, face it? Do tell!