New things

New things can be exciting, scary, intimidating, beautiful, shiny, actually old but new to you, and full of possibility. I have been thinking about change and new things on a pretty regular basis the past few weeks. In the middle of submitting graduate school applications, finishing a challenging semester, and preparing for a Christmas break full of travel, I got engaged. Exciting. Shiny. Scary. New.

Through all this, I have also been coordinating an Advent blog for the Texas Christian University Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (http://tcuchristmas.tumblr.com). The blog takes for its inspiration and guiding passage Luke 1:46-55, also known as The Magnificat, or The Canticle of Mary. One of the prominent themes I see in this incredible passage is the promise and hope of a new way of existence. God is doing a new thing in Mary and in the world-fulfilling promises, lifting up the lowly, using humble girls to bring revolutionary love.

Preparing for a blog post, I began listening to the song "Timothy Hay" by mewithoutYou on repeat. (Check it out on YouTube or read the lyrics). In pleas for "no more timothy hay" (a type of common hay used to feed animals), the song's narrator expresses a desire for something new, something different. Each verse paints a picture of anticipation: an apple seed waiting to grow, a protestor on the Pentagon lawn, and rabbits "indignantly thump[ing] their feet." The subjects of these scenes are not powerful or important. They are humble and often overlooked. They cry out for something new, something better than the alfalfa that "doesn't taste like much." And they have the hope of receiving it. By the end of the song, their cry is no longer a plea, but an exclamation of praise to the "beautiful God" who gives them hope.

Amidst all the craziness of finals, of travel, of presents, and of wedding planning, I find myself reassured by the promise Mary so clearly understands and the songwriter so wonderfully interprets: