Paradigm Shift by Nicky Wilkinson

I want to share the reflection I gave at the recent ACW retreat. It was the first with Jane Walters as our new chair and there was a real desire for a fresh new look at what we are doing and how we can improve as an association for christian writers. This scripture seemed to be a word in season. 

 Isaiah 43 v 17-18:

 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" New King James Version (NKJV)

Two experiences I had last year illustrated a paradigm shift for me.  

Mid September, I sat on the balcony of our family beach cottage in Durban, South Africa, lazily sipping coffee, while vaguely looking into the middle distance of the Indian Ocean. The spring winds were up and the surf pounded rhythmically on the shore.  Spray near the horizon caught my eye. It looked odd. It was a passing whale. Despite visiting here since being three, I have not seen whales before. I was transfixed. 

The coffee ignored, sun bathing eschewed, I grabbed binoculars, phone and specs. Trying to balance all three at the end of my nose I scanned the ocean, desperate for a tail, white belly, or an eye wondering back at me.  

On returning to the UK, I scoured YOUTUBE for videos of these magnificent creatures, fascinated to understand what I had seen.  I discovered that, after feeding in cold waters off Antartica, they travel north in warm waters along the coast to mate and breed around Madagascar and Mozambique. Humpbacks leap out of the water determined to make the biggest splash to attract a mate. The Indian Ocean is huge: Without this desire to breach the water and need to swim in the warmer coastal waters to protect their babies, we would not have been able to view them from the shore. 

In early November I fell off my bike and broke my arm. Six weeks later, having hung it tenderly in a sling, cosseting and coddling it, the X-ray declared it healed and the Physio-therapist effectively

performed backstroke with it! If I had known she was going to do that, I definitely would not have gone, and the only reason I didn't scream and run out was because, strangely, it didn't hurt and I trusted her professionalism.  Although, I did ask her nicely to put it back part way through. She demonstrated my fears were unfounded. 

Both experiences were a paradigm shift for my focus and expectation. 

As I write, I do not want to be held back by the mistakes and failures of yesterday, alluded to by Isaiah, I want to be able to express the new thing, sing the new song. Israel had relied on a secular king for victory, despite being warned not to. I am challenged as to what obscures the view? Fear, lack of faith, unforgiveness? 

Glimpsing something intriguing can stimulate my faith to look again for something exciting on the horizon. Fear is extinguished by false limitations being exposed. Releasing past bitterness frees up my mind to create. I am not exactly sure where the paradigm shift will end up, but I am open to exploring.  

Nicky Wilkinson has recently become a writer. She lived abroad in the Czech Republic and Zimbabwe for 25 years. She worked for Feba Radio in Zimbabwe, and taught History at Chisipite Senior School in Harare. She has been the Administrator for ACW for 3yrs. 

Middle photograph courtesy of Jo Kassis - Pexels