Did you hear the phrase, “Ring out the old, ring in the new,” (Tennyson) at all this past weekend? It is such a common, age-old phrase used to describe the celebrations held on New Year’s Eve (though the phrase is also frequently heard on New Year’s Day). Movies, TV shows, songs, literature, and art all abound with imagery that flies through our minds when we hear this phrase. Some of us may have even used this phrase ourselves from time to time to describe the nature of the holiday and its significance. Yet, what does this really mean for us in our “normal” day-to-day lives?
Do we actually view New Year’s as an opportunity to do the same in our lives that we do with the dates on our checks—change out the old for something newer? Sure, most of us have tried the “New Year’s Resolution” route and more often than not fallen short of successfully meeting those resolutions—a fact which only strengthens the need to ask this question: do we actually view this season as a time to change out the “old us” for the “new us”?
So many people are dissatisfied with who they currently are or who they have “always” been, but these same people seem completely unwilling to change. Perhaps they feel that change is impossible or that they will never be able to make the “new person” stick. Perhaps they are afraid that their friends will stop liking them if they change, leaving them alone in the world. Perhaps they feel that making the change would be more work than the results merit. Perhaps they are afraid of the unknown, that “stranger” they will see when they look in the mirror. Perhaps this isn’t a description of some unknown person out there, but rather a perfect description of each one of us.
Regardless of the reason, change is and should be neither a terrible nor a terrifying thing. In fact, change is part of God’s plan for our lives (Isaiah 42:0; 43:19; 66:22; Jeremiah 31:31; Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26-27; Matthew 9:17; Revelation 21:5). Therefore, we need to not only to open up to and embrace change, but to actually become an active participant in the change—or transformation—God wants to do in our lives.
Wring out the Old
No, this is not a typo. So, why did I choose “wring out” instead of “ring out”? For a few reasons, but primarily, because of what it has come to mean both in its actual definition and its idiomatic use. Dictionary.com defines wringer as “an apparatus or machine for squeezing liquid out of anything wet, as two rollers through which an article of wet clothing may be squeezed.” In the image above, the wringer is the device that is attached to the two wash basins. It has two rollers which have just enough space for the clothes to go through, one at a time, if they are not full of water. If the clothes are full of water, as they are when they come through a wash load, the wringer then squeezes the clothes so that the water cannot go through with the clothes, leaving the clothing damp instead of soaking wet.
This mechanical process led to the coining of the idiom to be “put through the wringer” which the same dictionary entry we just looked at describes as being “a painful, difficult, or tiring experience; ordeal.” The general use of this idiom leaves the distinct impression that the ordeal was something beyond the person’s control. This year, though, I want you to consider a different idea in relation to this idiom.
Let’s take a moment to create an “wringer” or “ordeal” to put your current self through right now. Begin by taking a close look at your life and find the things about yourself which
- Annoy you,
- Frustrate you,
- Hinder you,
- Weigh you down,
- Blind you,
- Irritate others,
- Hold you back, and
- Create unnecessary complications.
I advise you to write all of these things down in a one-column list (leave a decent-sized space on the side of it—you will need it later). If you don’t have a list too long for you to remember off the top of your head, you are either a truly amazing person…or you aren’t looking closely enough at your life. If the above suggestions aren’t enough for you to get a clear picture of the problem areas in your life right now, run your life through the filter of what Scripture says you need to be or be doing. That ought to make your list significantly longer!
Now, the purpose of this list is not to cause you to look at yourself and say, “Wow, I’m a terrible person.” It is to show you the vast number of areas you can send through this wringer so that you can eliminate the excess baggage and distraction you are carrying around in your day-to-day life. Remember, sopping wet clothing is not really usable. It weighs too much and feels too nasty to wear (seriously, wet denim? Soaked socks? Need I say more?). However, clothing which is put through the wringer, though damp when it comes through, is at least more usable in that damp state—and will take significantly less time to get in a “perfect,” “useable” condition than the clothes which refuse to go through the wringer.
Look closely now at your list. In that empty space beside every “bad” thing on your list, write one “good” or “positive” thing you can replace the bad with. Perhaps you read more fiction than you “want” to or should read. So, write down something like “Read 1 non-fiction book for each fiction book I read.” Maybe you drink too many unhealthy beverages. So, you could write down something like “Before drinking ‘unhealthy’ drinks I will drink 8 glasses of water.” Perhaps you spend too much time zoning on TV or games. So, you could write, “Limit [time-waster] to one 3-hour block per week.” Only seek to completely eliminate the bad area by going cold-turkey if you have a solid, strong replacement. A weak replacement will only make the problem return with a vengeance and become a bigger problem.
Do you see the idea here? Put yourself through the wringer. Take a good hard look at what you are carrying around that you don’t need in your life. Find a way to replace the bad with good.
Bring in the New
Which brings us now to the “elimination” round of this exercise. It is not enough to take a good hard look at ourselves in the mirror. It is not enough to write down a list of those problems. It is not enough to think of brilliant replacement strategies. We must allow God to transform our lives into better reflections of Himself. After all, He has called each one of us to be a chosen, royal, holy, and peculiar person (Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 4:20; 7:6; 14:2; 26:18-19; John 17:19; 1 Corinthians 3:17; 2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6).
How do we do this? We must put ourselves through the wringer of honest self-assessment—the kind of self-assessment that looks at the less appealing sides of ourselves, those which we willfully ignore at all costs, as well as the known “bad” parts. We all know our own obvious vices. We face those often enough to not have to think hard to identify them. We hang on to them for different reasons, ranging from comfort to laziness to an unwillingness to change our “bad boy/girl” image. Yet, we will never transform our lives for the better if we cannot let these go. Likewise, we must take the things we prefer to hide under the beds or in the closets or sweep under rugs and bring them to the light to deal with them. These are the problem areas we would rather ignore the existence of, but we know they are there because they wreak havoc in our lives much too much for our comfort or good. Persisting on hiding these things from ourselves will only continue our course down these self-destructive paths. However, if we carefully and honestly look at each of these areas, truly repent of the wrong permeating each of these patterns, identify solid solutions, and then act on those solutions, we will see an amazing change in our lives and experience an unprecedented freedom in our souls.
We must also catch the vision of who God made each one of us to be. Within the grand purpose of creation as a whole, we have been created for God’s pleasure which means that ultimately everything we do is, or should be, to bring God pleasure (Proverbs 16:4; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11). As a collective group, “mankind” if you will, we were made to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue the earth, and have dominion over every living thing—fish, fowl, and land creatures (Genesis 1:27-28; 9:1-7; Isaiah 45:18). Individually, though, our purpose is just as unique as each one of us—and God planned those purposes before He laid the foundations of the earth (Isaiah 49:5; Jeremiah 1:5; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4-5). We, therefore, need to identify what our unique purpose is and then walk in obedience to it and our purposes as part of mankind and creation. If anything in our lives causes us to veer from these purposes, we need to transform those areas into reflections of God from perversions of ourselves.
Through careful self-assessment, repentance, and well-thought-out replacing of the self- and purpose-destructive problems in our lives which hinder our ability to fulfill our lives’ purposes, we can truly make this year one in which we “Wring out the old and bring in the new!”
Living Energeia 