I’m back! I missed a couple weeks. I’ve been traveling, dealing with childhood trauma, and entering a new decade! 🎉

I don’t think they prepared me for all the overnight changes. (I’m still not sure who “they” is.) They told me age is just a number. Someone did not get that memo to the medical world. Everything’s different now. 

While I deal with my induction to the 40 Club, I wanted to share a theme I’ve been carrying these past few weeks. 

“New growth isn’t always pretty.”

I recently got a hair trim at a new place, and the stylist was perplexed by my hair. “All these flyaways, but it’s not breakage. It’s like new growth…” I tried to ignore her shame and judgment, but she brought it up again at the end. I told her that I recently started taking Collagen… could it be that? “Oh, yes! That makes sense. Just new growth.”

New growth isn’t always pretty. 

We were on a walk around the neighborhood, and I noticed this tree that appears to be springing back to life. But yikes. In this stage, it looks like it’s struggling. 

Important? Definitely. Needed? Absolutely. Attractive? Not particularly. 

It’s raw. It’s vulnerable. A little unhinged. A lot essential.

New growth is a part of the process. We can trust that the Creator knows what He’s doing.

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” – Zechariah‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬

He rejoices in growth, at any stage. He’s not ashamed of small starts or new growth. People may look at the outside, the exterior, God is focused on the heart.

“So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.” – Jeremiah‬ ‭18‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You’re never too far gone for a redo, a clean slate, a fresh start. New growth might not always be pretty in the world’s eyes, but it’s always beautiful in the eyes of the Father.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time…” – Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬