the first month of your year

I noticed something last week for the first time. I love it when this happens. I read something in scripture that I know I've read many times before but, this time, it jumped off the page and it's been running around in my head ever since. I'm not sure exactly what this "is all about" for me quite yet, but my interest is peaked and I'm trying to listen.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 'This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.'

This is the first sentence of Exodus 12 - the account of the Passover, the event which kicked off Israel's march to freedom after 400+ years of dignity-robbing slavery.

God's about to lay out the plans for the whole Passover meal, the final plague, the mass exodus, the whole deal. But before he begins the instruction he essentially says, "OK, we're starting over. This is a new day. This day is your first day. The old way of marking time, the old frame of reference for your life and past - it's over. This is the new beginning. We're starting a whole new calendar. We're starting fresh. Your world's about to change."

It's like the whole BC/AD calendar shift. It's like God is saying, "I'm going to do something so significant that your whole existence and understanding of reality will be changed. There will be the way life was before this event. And there will be the way life is after this event. It all changes...right here. Ready to listen? OK...go get a lamb...

Over the last week - and already twice today - I've been in conversations in which people have expressed this amazing reality over and over again: There was the old way of living. Then Jesus opened their eyes and they embraced Him. And now everything's different.

Yes, there are still struggles, there's still pain, there's still doubt. But, ultimately, the whole frame of reference is different - it's a new day. Because now it's not just about making bricks in Egypt. That's last year's calendar. That's so pre-exodus. Today it's about living an adventure of freedom and purpose in Christ.

My heart says, "Bring it Lord! Help me to fully embrace the truth of this new life!"