Is It

Meeting someone you haven’t seen for decades is often quite revealing.  If you have their name, plenty of time, and good light you might be able to guess the connection (remember you are starting with the answer).  Yet frequently, far more often than I care to admit, I find myself wondering aloud – is this really the person I knew?  Nothing is the same.  The swagger has changed.  The trendy dapper clothes have disappeared.  The attitude morphed.  Is it really you?
 
I’m sure I have gone through my share of changes.  I am quite confident there are many who are processing the same wonderment cycle when it comes to my name and images.  Yet I wonder if we understand just how much is remembered and perceived.
 
It is as if “people will stare and muse: ‘Can this be the one who terrorized earth and its kingdoms, turned earth to a moonscape, wasted its cities, shut up his prisoners to a living death?’” (Isaiah 14.16, 17)  Is it really you?
 
Spring has finally arrived in New York.  The blossoms have come and now flutter in a midst when the wind turns the corner by the tennis courts.  Kids are out in force, having abandoned the down jackets and dark colors.  It is as if everything is going through a emergence process; new, fresh, and full of hope.  I wonder, how many springs has it been since I found myself embracing one with total abandoned?
 
As I reflect on the incredible energy and beauty spilling out where one least expects it, I find myself taking a hard look in the mirror.  Is this the person I want to be?  Can I let go of the past and accept the new clothes God offers you and me?  Will I embrace Hope and let it start the work needed on the inside which will make all the difference on the outside?
 
Everything is possible!  We can grow, change, and emerge as something totally new, fresh, and unfamiliar.  The potential is there, just waiting for our “yes”.  Ah…spring choices and opportunity.