New beginnings

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.

Hebrews 6:1 NLT

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. (Seneca)

Stop for a moment to think about the last time you chose to begin something new. Did you simply add to the stuff you had already been doing or did you actually find your new beginning required you to put something else away? In a physical sense, I cannot mow and weed eat at the same time. I cannot stir the stew and chop the vegetables at the same time...one leads to the other, but both aren't done at the same time. Why do we then think we can just go on and on in the same learning we have been taught without ever beginning anew to explore what God has for us? Yes, we maintain a great foundation of fundamental truth, but then we go on to add in more and more of his truth into our lives. This is how we grow out of some habits that need to be broken and grow into other ones that amply replace those bad ones!

Broken hearts don't heal by just beginning where they left off. They heal because of new beginnings. As Seneca said, one beginning comes to an end and the new one starts. There is freshness needed because the old had many wounds into which one needed health to come again. Healing is about the diseased being removed and then the new life or health taking that place. Places in our heart and mind can be too preoccupied to allow new beginnings at times. Sometimes we need to let go of some stuff to make room for the new!

Letting go is part of beginning. I have had too much stuff stored in the garage for a while again - clothes I no longer fit into since losing my weight, bits and pieces of this and that which gathers because we get something new as a gift and the old is now no longer needed. If I want to reclaim some of the space in the garage I must load it in the car and take it to the local thrift shop, donating it there for others to use as they are able to.  I must let go in order to have room for anything new to ever begin in that garage - or they will one day call me the "hoarder lady"! 

Just as with the garage space, the space in our heart occupied by hatred, envy, bitterness, lust, pride, and the litany of other sins that keep us tethered to one spot in our lives, we must let go of them if we are ever to have the space for what Christ wants to build into our lives. The space in our minds consumed by repeatedly running the list on all the ways another has hurt us, or even ruminating over the things we think we must have in life in order to be successful, can become too consumed for Christ to begin to affect our thoughts. We have to let go of those in order for the new beginning of fresh and vibrant thought to take place. So, if we think about it, letting go isn't really going back to square one again - it is simply letting go of the weight that has occupied the space and beginning to allow a focus there once again, but in an entirely new direction. Just sayin!

Without any degree of separation

Ever start stuff and then somewhere along the way it never quite makes it to "finished"?  I have lots of these projects!  I wanted to learn to crochet - well that isn't gonna happen since I live in Arizona and would never wear one thing I could make!  I wanted to learn to paint with water colors - another wayside project abandoned somewhere between learning to sketch and outline and actually having the talent to do it!  I wanted to learn how to take care of a car's engine - I got about ten percent into this one when I discovered these things are way too complicated anymore for me to do more than drive it to the local Jiffy Lube for an oil change!  I guess we all have those "start" and "stop" moments in life - when we realize we bit off more than we could chew, or just plain didn't know what we were getting into.  What isn't up to us "getting through" is this thing called "salvation".  You see, God began that work, so we can all be assured it will be finished - and finished well!

I am confident that the Creator, who has begun such a great work among you, will not stop in mid-design but will keep perfecting you until the day Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, returns to redeem the world. (Philippians 1:6 VOICE)

Begin:  To perform the first or earliest part of any action.  If the "beginning" part of our salvation is in God's hands, in the work he accomplished at the cross, then it is off to the best start!  If it were up to us, I'm sure we would find some way to make it as complicated, but as painless as possible.  If it were us having to die on the cross, we'd find some other means!  

Great:  Unusual in power, intensity, or degree; first-rate; remarkable; exceptionally outstanding.  The things we begin in life may not exactly measure up to things others would consider "remarkable" or "first-rate".  In fact, if I look around at the things I have begun in my life, I'd have to say what I envisioned as being "first rate" when I started sort of made it to not more than "third rate" at best!  The power God has behind his plans for our lives is better than anything we could muster up on our own.  In fact, the plans themselves are "first-rate"!

Keep:  To hold in a given place.  I think it is important for us to realize God gives us our place of "right-standing" with him, not based on our own merit, but on the gift of grace he extends to us through the blood of his dear Son, Jesus.  It is a "placement" which is straight from his hands - we didn't do anything to achieve it.  If we were the ones achieving that "place" in life, we'd constantly have to struggle to keep ourselves in that place.  The truth of the matter is that we cannot "keep" (hold in place) our "right-standing" with God - only he can (and does) do that!

Perfecting:  Conforming absolutely (without degree of separation) to the definition of an ideal type (Christ). What God begins in us is this "conforming" process of making us like Christ in every way - because he sees us without any degree of "separation".  We see ourselves with many degrees of separation - but in God's eyes, he only sees us as he views his dear Son, Jesus.  There is no difference in how he sees us because we become one with Christ in salvation - there are no longer any degrees of separation!  

We might think what is begun will never get to completion in our lives, but what seems impossible to us is actually already accomplished in God's eyes! We don't always see the evidence of what he has set in motion, but we can trust him to finish what he has begun!  Just sayin!

A little leaven for our day

While I am not an avid baker, I do enjoy undertaking winter baking projects from time to time.  In the summer's of Arizona, we do as little to heat up the house as possible, so all morning baking projects are just not in the mix during those hot months!  I have never made a loaf of bread though, although I have watched others make it, observed cooking shows in which the technique is taught, etc.  I just haven't had the urge to undertake the project.  Maybe it is because I know I would like the warm, rich taste of that loaf freshly baked with just a little too much butter!  One thing I learned while watching those bread makers out there - a little "leaven" or "yeast" in the mix sure does a lot of work to make a pretty "benign" lump of dough rise to fluffy goodness!  It is a good illustration to us of how one right action can set off a chain reaction of "right actions"!

If the first and best of the dough you offer is sacred, the entire loaf will be as well. If the root of the tree is sacred, the branches will be also.  (Romans 11:16 VOICE)

I think this might just be why God asks us to stop in the morning for even a minute or two, to just center our thoughts on him, let him richly embrace us with his grace, and then begin our day's tasks.  When the first part of the "dough" is made well, the rest of the "dough" begins to be affected by that which was added in the beginning!  If we give God the first part of our day, chances are pretty good he will inhabit a great deal more of our day than just those few minutes.  Just as a tiny bit of yeast worked into the mixture of that bread becomes "active" in the period between being introduced, worked in, and then allowed to "sit and rise", so our lives can be impacted with that tiny infusion of his grace, goodness, and love each day.

I have a tree in the backyard which starts out the springtime season with green growth and the leaves fill the tree so well.  As the stress of the hotter season arrives, those leaves begin to turn a little yellow, falling from the tree and making the fullness of the tree a little less evident.  At first, the tree seems to flourish - because it is ready for the new growth and has been storing up all winter long to bring forth that new growth. Most of us start each new day the same way - we have been storing up all night to do whatever it is we need to accomplish today.  As with the tree, we begin with a gusto and enthusiasm which is evident in the work at hand.  As time begins to pass, the tiredness begins to set in - it is harder to sustain the same rate of growth as we did in the beginning.  Take heart - as with my tree, the beginning was strong, the roots are growing deeper, and the sustaining power of God's grace will get us through!

A little quote I came across might just give us a little encouragement today. Could I be bold as to ask you to use this as a prayer today?  In place of "Earth" could you substitute "God"?  I think it says it all pretty well:

Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.  (William Alexander)

In other words, we would pray something like:  God teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life (because it takes on a new form and a new path in life).  God teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall (because even loss holds a hope of new life coming again and give back even in their death).  God teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone (because although I feel alone, I know there are other trees left standing - I just may not see them right now). God teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring (because one tiny seed in your care can bring multiplied blessing we know nothing about right now).

The most important part of our passage today isn't that one life can affect a great many - although this is true.  It isn't that bread rises because of a tiny little bit of yeast added to the mixture - although this is quite true.  It isn't that a tree will grow strong when the roots are firmly planted and deep into the soil which gives it nourishment - although this also is true.  The thing we need to understand is this:  Begin well and we will end well!  We may show little signs of wear and tear along the way and not everything will be as perfect as we may have liked, but if we consistently begin well, that "beginning point" steers us in the right direction for finishing well.  It may not be the finish we imagined, but each day we get a little closer to that!  Just sayin!

Middle moments

To be strong implies we are robust, able to stand up to the test.  Strength can be viewed as mental power, physical ability, and even moral firmness.  It is something developed over time - not something which comes as a matter of inheritance.  In other words, 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.  If you have ever been hit by another car, you know the reality of the collision.  The power behind the car which struck yours does damage to yours because of that "strength" behind the force of impact.  The weight of the car, the speed at which it is traveling, and the location at which it strikes your car all determine the "strength" by which your car (and your body) will receive the impact.  The collision's force leaves you stranded - if not because your car is now damaged, at least in emotional upset over the loss created by such a force.  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.

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?”  That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. 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. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!  (Romans 15:1-6 MSG)

Strength is for service, not for status - true enough statement, but how do we put this into practice in our lives?  All we need in order to answer this question is to look at the very next statement.  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 anymore than he avoided mine.  In fact, he embraced our troubles, taking them to the cross with him and dealing with them there.  

You may never know when the strength you possess is the strength which has been prepared in you to be used in meeting the needs of another.  We don't possess this strength just for our own use, you know.  We possess it to use it to help one another out wherever the need presents itself.  Sometimes it will be in overtly evident ways such as giving someone broken down on the side of the road a ride to the nearest service station, or loaning them your cell phone to place a call to towing company.  At other times, it may be your simple and frequent prayers on their behalf, at times and in ways they don't even recognize, but definitely feel because they are being made strong themselves to endure their present hardship.  Regardless of how it is we use our strength, it is to be used in service for others - not hoarded for our self.

There is a characteristic "trait" of those who are strong in the Lord - they 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.  In fact, if Jesus had of avoided the many "messy times" while he walked this earth, we wouldn't have the accounts of the woman with an issue of blood miraculously healed, the demon possessed set free, nor the centurion's ear reattached after being severed with the sword.  Jesus got right in the middle of the messes of our lives - from the moments of adulterous discovery, to the hours of agony over the loss of a loved one - he was right there in the middle of it all.  It is "in the middle" that we are most effective - for strength is meant for the "middle" moments!

My pastor aptly puts it this way:  The Bible is a "beginning, middle, new beginning" book.  I will go one step further with this idea.  I think 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!  This is our calling - to use the strength he gives to intervene in the middle of messes - in hopes of seeing the creation of a new beginning from the midst of the mess.  I had a friend when I was young who hated to clean her room.  She could never play until her room was cleaned up on Saturdays.  So, in order to have time to play with her, guess what I did?  Yep, you guessed it - I got right in the middle of her mess and started cleaning it up.  I suppose you might think she took advantage of my desire to spend time with her, leaving all that mess for me to clean up, but I saw it differently.  In doing this small task for her, we could spend time together.  What mattered most to me was the time we were together - not that it cost me twenty minutes of putting away clothes, toys, and books! 

What matters most to Jesus is that his children are drawn closer to him, deeper into relationship with each other, and away from the mess of their past.  What 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. You up for a few "middle moments" today?  Just askin!

First steps to decluttering our lives

Have you ever stopped to consider how many times you actually make new beginnings in this life?  At the beginning of almost every new year, we make some type of new beginnings, only to see them fizzle out shortly after we make them.  At the beginning of each new day, we commit to something which we will struggle with remaining faithful to throughout the course of that day.  At the beginning of the new month, we resolve to stay on budget and not spend more than we plan on taking in this month in our paychecks.  We are constantly making new beginnings, aren't we?  Sometimes we make these new beginnings with stuff like finances, our weight, or the maintenance we will perform around the house.  At others, it is much deeper, like the time we will plan to spend with a significant other, or the discovery of what God has for us in his Word by daily study and meditation.  Regardless of the new beginnings, there is something in common among them all - US.  We are making those new beginnings - some because we want to, others because we have to, and still others because someone external to us is beckoning us to.

Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness. “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree.  “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think." (Isaiah 55:6-9 MSG)

We all "begin", but somewhere along the way, sometimes without even noticing why, we need course corrections.  Try as we might, we cannot plan for every unforeseeable event - there will be those which creep up on us, pop up out of nowhere, and generally just "happen" without us being able to plan for them.  New beginnings are just a way of us letting go of old stuff.  Yesterday, my daughter had a garage sale and we went over to just keep her company as she did the sale.  I thought of the importance of letting go of old stuff - things which do little more than clutter up our lives and make life a little "messier" than it really needs to be.  She was making a new beginning by parting with some of the "stuff" which cluttered her garage and attic space. Others were making new beginnings by getting those outgrown baby clothes, the coffee pot, and the fluorescent fixtures for their garage.  

New beginnings are just a way of us starting over.  It is kind of like a "reset" button in our lives.  We can clean the slate and start fresh again.  This is what course corrections do for us - they help us to clean the slate and to set a new course.  Some of us need to do this in our relationships with each other because we have let clutter just mount up in those spaces where we have neglected to keep things fresh and growing.  Others of us need to start again in the place of daily time with Jesus - because we have let things clutter the space we had once committed to him.  Regardless of the reason for the "clutter", we need to get rid of it and start again - freshness restored, space given, and focus redirected.

I am so glad for God's graces which are new every morning.  If you hadn't really thought about this, maybe it will do your heart some good to consider it.  God is really saying to us his graces come into our lives afresh each and every new day - not just to give us warm fuzzies, but to help us make new beginnings with him each day.  New beginnings are first steps - not steps taken up where we left off, but first and fresh steps.  Maybe this is why we struggle so much with our "new beginnings" being something which sets us correctly on course again - because we try to take up where we left off instead of recognizing we start with the first steps again.  Here's something to ponder:  How far can you really stray off-course in a day?  If you remember his mercies are new each new day, then you likely will not stray far before you recognize you need those new mercies to get you back on course to take those first steps again.  One neat thing about God - he doesn't count how many times we take the first steps over and over again - he only focuses on our current first steps!

Truth be told, we all need new beginnings.  We may not want to admit it, but in truth, we desperately desire them in so many areas of our lives.  When we become aware of needing a new beginning, the best plan is to stop long enough to let the clutter be removed.  It took my daughter a while to realize she could part with the baby stuff which had been amassing around the house.  She just wasn't ready to let go in hopes there might be a little girl somewhere along the way.  Truth is, the boys fill her days pretty much to overflowing, so I am not sure she really needs that little girl she hopes for! Besides, all the stuff she was holding onto was boy stuff - if a little girl was to come along, she'd have to get new stuff anyway!  We sometimes hold onto what is just not very realistic, don't we?  When we do, we just add clutter to our already very full lives.  

God's plan is for us to declutter lives - to take the steps toward a new beginning.  If we have to do this more than once, so be it.  His mercies are new every morning.  Don't get down on yourself - just take those first steps and let him do the rest.  His course corrections come as frequently as we need them.  Just sayin!