The Plumbline

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. (Seneca) So don’t remember what happened in earlier times. Don’t think about what happened a long time ago, because I am doing something new! (Isaiah 43:18-19) Does the past seem to disappoint you? Sometimes the pain from the past lingers well into the present, making it almost impossible for us to escape the disappointment we have experienced. Disappointment doesn't always come from an action of another - it frequently is linked to some action we have taken ourselves. If someone else has brought the disappointment, it is well past the time to forgive and move on. If you have caused that deep disappointment, it is time you confess it, relinquish it to God, and begin to move forward, don't you think? God's plan has always been to keep us focused forward, not on what lies behind. He isn't doing the 'new thing' in the past, he is doing it in the present. Forward-focused individuals find it difficult t

"Sometimes you get to what you thought was the end and you find it's a whole new beginning." (Anne Tyler as seen on www.facebook/tobymac)  This is so true - we think we finally make it to the "end" of something only to find a new door opening where one is closing, another roller-coaster loop to traverse just when we thought we were done with "all that fun", or something totally unexpected and phenomenal that wows us and leaves us breathless in awe.  We might have even uttered the oft familiar words, "When will this ever end," and hoped with all our might for some resolution to come quickly. What we are wishing for is just for some "break" so we can catch our breath again.  We know the pressures will come again because as sure as we count on the peace, there is more of whatever gives us grief somewhere lurking just ahead!  Some authors will tell you as one book comes to an end for them and it is finally sent to the presses for pu

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