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Same Only Different

I have this old bookshelf that is one of maybe two items that have actually circled back to Phoenix with us. Most of our furniture is long gone and we have replaced it with new and updated. 

 But this bookcase is something that hung on. I don’t know why. It’s not like it’s some high quality item. It sits in my study and I do still love to hold a book. I use my Kindle App a lot but there is something about turning pages and the smell of paper and ink that I enjoy. I also like to loan or give books away after I’ve read them. Many, I keep because they hold a special place in my heart. Some have been life changing. So, the bookcase is still a necessity for me. 

However, I did want something new and updated so I decided I would paint it. I mean, looks easy enough. They have this new (not so new but new to me) chalk paint I’ve heard great things about. 
They promise it to be a one coat wonder. No priming, sanding or stripping. Yes please! 

So, I bought a can, set the books out of the way and I began. When I went to lift and move it out to the garage it began to separate. I guess high quality items such as this really can’t be moved twenty seven times and expect to hold up. Maybe I should have just bought a new one. Nope. I can do this. I’ll just get a drop cloth and do it right here in the house. We just won’t tell Jim. 😉

Well, the one coat wonder statement is false! It took two but still was fairly easy. I did not spill any on the new tile or rug so that was a victory in itself. And I now have a bookcase that is the same only different. It looks different yet is somewhat the same. It gives off a whole new feeling though. 

That’s sort of how I have felt since moving back. Much is the same only different. I still know my way around like nothing has changed. I felt like we had been gone so long that everything would be different and I'd get lost. I go into a familiar store and the same cashier is there. Or I try to go to one of my old favorite places and it’s no longer in business. Much has changed in the growth of the area. A lot really has happened in five years. Yet it’s the same only different.

 I didn’t expect to fall right but back into my old life because we were moving to a different area. Although we go to the same church we attend a different campus. Our pastor retired and we have a new pastor. It’s a lot the same only different. People have moved away and some people have moved on. 

I think Annie is finally feeling ok with all that is different for her. I loved watching her figure out that gravel and rock is the new grass. That bunnies are the new squirrels and quail are the new cardinals. It’s a lot the same only different. And different, I’m finding is ok. Not everything needs to stay the same. In fact, I should want and embrace the different.

 The change that comes with making old new again, like my bookcase; is something to get excited about. If I stayed the same I wouldn’t be growing. I always want to be growing and that means I will be different. I have a long way to go yet! I can get lazy and complacent and insist on keeping things the same. I know in my heart that is not what God wants for me. In fact, He tells us in His Word that He is making all things new again. And not just putting a couple of coats of paint on the outside but doing a heart transformation. We are also told not to conform but to be transformed. That’s a very good thing. I pray daily for God to change my heart and transform me into His likeness. And that means that I can’t be the same as I was today. Only by His Grace, I can become different. 

Pressing On 


““See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”
Isaiah 65:17 NIV


“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12:2 NIV


“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV


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