New Beginnings Start Here

Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” ...God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. (Romans 15:1-6) 

We are to live strong - robust, able to stand up to the tests of life. Strength can be mental power, physical ability, and even moral firmness. It is something developed over time - not something which comes as a matter of inheritance. You can desire to be strong, but what brings strength is the exercise of the strength you possess until you begin to reveal you possess an even greater strength. Strength is sometimes not used the way God would intend for it to be used. When we possess mental, physical, and even spiritual strength, God wants us to use it as he would intend for us to use it - not in any manner which causes harm, destroys others, or leaves emotional scarring.

Strength is for service, not for status - true enough statement, but how do we put this into practice in our lives? We are to look after the good of the people around us - asking ourselves how it is we may help them in their time of both need and plenty. We find it easy to help when someone is at their strongest, but how about when they are at their weakest? Do we see them as a "drain" on us? Do their problems seem like too much of a bother for us to get involved in? Do we see their struggle as something they just need to "get over"? If we are to use our strength for service (as Jesus did), then we need to be operating as Christ did - not in avoidance mode, but in embrace mode! Jesus didn't avoid your troubles any more than he avoided mine. He took them to the cross with him and dealt with them there.

You may never know when the strength you possess is the strength prepared in you for the purpose of meeting the needs of another. We possess strength so we can use it to help one another out wherever the need presents itself. People who are strong in the Lord are involved in the lives of others. They don't pull back, isolate, and run from those times when things might get a little messier than they'd like. Jesus got right in the middle of the messes of our lives. It is "in the middle" that we are most effective - for strength is meant for the "middle" moments!

Jesus is all about "beginnings, middles, and new beginnings" in our lives and he wants us to be involved in the middle of people's lives, so they have the hope and potential of new beginnings! 

What matters most to Jesus is that his children are drawn closer to him, deeper into relationship with each other, and away from the messes of their past. Our part is in this is quite simple - to be in the middle of the mess, offering our strength in their weakness, and affording the help needed to see their "middle" become the launching pad for a new beginning in life. Just sayin!

Begin well, end better!

If we begin with God, we will surely end well!  I wonder what would happen within our days if we'd make a conscious effort to begin with God and then at the end of the day begin to recount the things of our day in the light of what he brought us through, showed us within the events, and kept us from experiencing just because of his awesome oversight?  Beginnings often differ from endings, do they not?  Some of us begin well, ending with less than stellar performance.  Others begin on a little bit of a shaky footing, but end pretty well considering how we began.  One thing I believe God wants for us is the certainty of beginning well AND the reward of ending well.  If we consider there is a whole lot of "in between" wedged in the middle of the beginning and ending, we might just get a little discouraged with the process, but the truth is, begin well and we stand a whole lot better chance of dealing with the "in between" with a different frame of reference!

Light, space, zest—that’s God!  So, with him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing...  I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness in the exuberant earth.  Stay with God! Take heart. Don’t quit.  I’ll say it again:  Stay with God.  (Psalm 27:1, 13 MSG)

One of the things which often keeps us from even beginning is the fear of what lays ahead.  When we know who protects our life, we have less grounds to fear the unknown of the "in between".  We are more likely to take the first step when we feel well-protected and what better way to feel well-protected than to put our hands in the one who commands the Angel Armies!  The goodness of God is what keeps us as we face the "in between".  If you have never stopped to consider the goodness of God, maybe it is about time.  His nature of good, affording his plans to be nothing but good, making his actions consistently good toward mankind, and declaring his outcomes overwhelmingly good.  Most of us get hung up with the "bad" we see in this world, thinking God must be "handing out" bad stuff.  Truth is - bad exists because we have a free will - we have the opportunity of choice.  We (mankind) can choose to live our "in between" by making good choices, or determining to make all the ones which result in nothing but bad outcomes.  When we choose the latter, we see the worst in people.  When we choose the former, we have the opportunity to see little bits of God's goodness on display.

Some of us know things about our choices that we honestly believe no one else sees - we think we have insulated those choices so well that they are never on display for others to see.  Try as we might, little "hints" of our choices are constantly creeping through.  We can say we are not fearless - stepping out in what seems like boldness and extreme courage - but wherever choice exists, there is always an element of fear.  It is human nature to experience what we call this emotion of "fear" whenever faced with the unknown.  It may only be a little apprehension manifest on the surface, but deep inside, there is something pretty overwhelming about the unknown (the in between).  This is why it is so important for us to begin well.  Trust me on this one - God already knows our uncertainty and the deeper sense of feeling overwhelmed with our "in between".  Since he does, isn't it pretty comical for us to try to convince ourselves, others, and even HIM that the unknown doesn't bother us?

I'd like us to accept a challenge today - to begin to be honest with God about what it is we fear the most.  This is a pretty big challenge for those who like to "put the best foot forward", even with God.  I think there is great wisdom in admitting we are afraid of the "in between" - especially to God!  What we are willing to bring to him he stands at the ready to accept as an opportunity to reveal something about himself which we might not experience otherwise. God does more with an honest confession and an open heart than he does with false confidence and prideful first steps!  He can do more with an honestly fearful first step than hundreds of prideful ones!  

If we read the "in between" of this Psalm, we will observe many "ups and downs" of the writer's heart, mind, and spirit.  Bullies are bearing down on him, but he will play it cool.  The world around him is bombarding him with all kinds of noise, but he will choose to filter it out by contemplating the goodness of the one he serves.  Others are trying to pull him down, but he chooses to march ahead, rise above, and allow praise to carry him through the opposition.  The temptations around him have "loud voices", but he will respond only to the "whisper" of God's which comes from deep within him. Family doesn't even appear to be loyal, but he has never experienced abandon from the one to whom he has committed his life.  He is dogged by enemies on every side who spout words of taunting and terror, but his determination is to allow God to answer their taunts and threats.  

Yep, I am sure he feels a little like the "in between" wants to keep him from making the first steps, but look at his response each and every time.  He is confident in the one who stands above the rest - he knows the one in whom he has placed his trust - and he stands determined to fact the "in between" with the confidence of one who is protected on all sides.  Looking at these few verses, we see he addresses the things which affect his mind, heart, will and emotions.  Why?  Simply because these are the areas of attack where we face the greatest fears of the "in between".  

Your "in between" may not be clear today, but if you choose to begin well, you will surely end well.  In the "in between", choose to listen to the whispered voice of a good God, instead of the taunts and terror of the enemies of your soul.  In the "in between", rest on the shoulder, close to the heart of the one who will carry you when you are weak, lift you when you fall, and treasure you when no one seems to exhibit any concern for your well-being.  He who began a good thing in you will be sure to take you through to the end.  Begin well and you will end even better than you began!  Just sayin!

Beginnings are easy!

⁸ Endings are better than beginnings. 
   Sticking to it is better than standing out.

(Ecclesiastes 7:8)

I think that many of us do a great job at STARTING stuff - our hobby cabinets, bookshelves, and garages give testament to that fact.  Yet, I wonder how many of us really FINISH what it is we start!  I have a very creative daughter.  In school, she would take all kinds of arts classes.  I always enjoyed seeing what it was she created.  She'd take on new projects with all the flare of creativity she could muster up, then when the project was taking too long, or something else caught her interest...it would be put aside unfinished.  Another side of this story is my tendency to read as many as five books at one time.  I will start them, put them down and take up a new one.  When the mood hits me for a little of the mystery, I pick it back up, then it gets put down for the humor of the comedy, and so on.  

It should not surprise you that we are very "moody" people.  We are driven by our emotions.  If we "feel" it, we pursue it.  If we don't, we just let it pass on by.  Why?  I think it is because we have some desire to feel "good" about what it is we are doing.  I remember watching the Apollo missions while I was in grade school.  The TV would be rolled into the classroom and we'd sit mesmerized watching as the lift-off would happen, then oooh and aaah when the separation of rockets would occur.  I was certain that those men felt "good" about their mission in life.  During that time in my life most of you would say I was a "loner".  I spent almost all of my free time alone - a lot of it just exploring, considering "stuff", and playing the good old fashioned way we did back then.  I didn't read a lot then - just hung out in the great outdoors of Arizona and did "stuff".  

I recall being inspired by those Apollo missions, working for days on a toothpick and Popsicle stick version of the Apollo spacecraft.  I not only ate Popsicles in order to "supply" my building materials, but I went to where the ice cream truck stopped and collected all the discarded ones left behind by others that enjoyed hanging out under a tree eating their latest purchases.  This creative project took some time - after all, we did not have super-glue or hot-glue guns in those days!  It was good old Elmer's Glue for me!  I really don't know how many boxes of toothpicks went into that three foot tall creation, but there were a lot!  Then that "idea" resulted in building a house from those same materials, and then another, until I had a small settlement in the backyard.  I was finally finished when all the pop bottle refunds I could muster up were all spent on the boxes of toothpicks and glue that went into the projects!

We all learn the most from that which we actually see through to the end in life.  Those "false starts" we may make at this little project and that new venture are simply that - false!  Whenever our emotions are allowed to rule how we feel (and therefore, what it is we engage in), there is opportunity for many a "false start".  Solomon tells us that "beginnings" are easy - it is the "finishing" that is hard.  We "begin" with a flourish - how many of us actually "end" with as great a flourish?  It is in the beginning that we seem to put all of our attention.  If you don't believe me, think about what happens each January.  People think about "getting healthier" and then they make all kinds of plans.  They join the gym, buy workout clothing, and purchase the latest running shoes to give them the "edge".  By January 15th, most of this stuff is in the back of the closet and the gym membership is discarded!

The ending is where we should focus - the beginning is less important than the ending.  We sometimes don't "end well" because we had a misconception about what the "project" we call life will entail.  The fact is, the "building" of the good stuff in our lives is often a tedious process (just like toothpicks and Elmer's Glue made for slow work in building a spacecraft!).  It is in the "sticking to it" that we find the results we really desire.  I don't know what God has been speaking to you about, but if he is asking you to "begin", just know that he will help you "finish"!  We don't have to "feel like it" all along the way - but when we finally "push past" our emotions, we often get the wind in our sails to see it through to completion!