Ripped Jeans, faded memories and prospects of adventure

How many times have you promised yourself that you would clean out your closet? To rid yourself of the old so that you would have room for the new... and how many of those times have you snuck a few of those pieces back into your closet instead of getting rid of them?
We all have that one article of clothing that has been in our closet for as long as we can remember.... for me, it's an old sweatshirt from College... now granted, the school has since closed and I can no longer buy the sweatshirt anywhere... but I find myself sinking back into it when I have a bad day. Surrounding myself with the familiar.... but it's a good kind of familiar... the smell of laundry, the golden ghetto couch, and the sounds of dorm life.
But what about that old statment familiarity breeds contempt? We allow ourselves to become comfortable in a situation... we hold on to the familiar and comfortable instead of moving forward...
Sure, we can look back on memories, learn from our past mistakes and talk with friends about things we've done that are long since past... but if we stay there... if we hold on to the past... what happens then? We might find ourselves falling back into old habits, putting on our old, ill-fitting and faded rags... our old self creeps back in.
Sometimes, we allow ourselves to get too comfortable.... Let me put it another way...
In The Hobbit, Bilbo is working to wrap his head around the idea of becoming a burglar... and in the film (which takes a number of liberties, I might add, but that's another blog and day altogether) states that he just needs to sit quietly for a moment... Gandalf interrupts that He has been sitting quietly for too long. He is inviting Bilbo on the adventure of a lifetime... and is shocked that Bilbo is hesitant.
Like Bilbo, We grow comfortable in our lives... we cling to the old (we have done this particular thing, this way as long as we can remember) and forget that there are adventures to be had... we fear the unknown and hold to what we know... but we are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that in Christ, we are a new creation... the old is gone and the new is here... Embrace the new, let go of the old. God is inviting us out on a great adventure... will we be brave enough to shed the old us and move forward?