“Behold, I am making all things new.”
Revelation 21:5
When I was 13, my middle school required six-week courses to explore the various electives. This included spending time in Shop class. I was nervous and unfamiliar with working with tools. The shop teacher was a bit of a curmudgeon and he seemed to take an immediate dislike to me. He chose to give me an “F” in his class, which triggered a meeting with me, my mother, and the shop teacher. My mom, who is quite persuasive, convinced him to change the grade, but not before he told her in front of me that I was hopeless and should never be allowed around tools. I believed him and I was OK. Even at that age, I thought to myself, “I can be good at other things, and if I need to, I can ask for help or pay someone to help me fix things.”
Then, COVID 19 hit and the rules changed. I couldn’t just simply hire a repair person. To take care of my family, I needed to figure things out. When the refrigerator door broke, I watched a YouTube video, ordered the parts, got out the tools, and fixed it. Then the dishwasher broke, and I enlisted the help of my daughter to repair the racks. Then the icemaker broke and after several videos and lots of hours, I repaired it. This Christmas, the seal got caught in the trunk of our car that was hiding several Christmas gifts and we couldn’t open it. I removed the seal, opened the trunk, and replaced the seal.
I believed the voice of my shop teacher and I shouldn’t have. This made me think that there are many voices I believe that I shouldn’t, including my own inner critic.
Any voice that tells me I am not enough, I can never do it, or that I am hopeless is not the voice of our loving God. His voice says, “you are my beloved child and I love you beyond your imagination.” The voice of our Spirit led conscious calls us to do better, to avoid sin, and to reconcile, but that voice doesn’t degrade or devalue us. That voice does not deny our intrinsic value in the eyes of the God who created us and longs for us. This year I will strive to be new by discerning my master’s voice and by putting the other voices to the side.
“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27
