The Beauty of New Beginnings

Clear blue skies!  Bright sunshine!  As the song says, “Oh!  What a beautiful morning!”  A fitting “exclamaton point” to the storms of the past few days.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!  I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.”  (Lamentations 2:22-24)

Perhaps every moment in time is an “exclamation point” of some kind.  Some moments exclaim grief when sudden endings rock our world.  Other moments overflow with Wonder and Expectancy.

But I wonder, Lord:  Isn’t every moment, on some level, a New Beginning of sorts?  A moment that is “pregnant” with Possibility?  For those involved.  For those watching from afar.  For those who are “tuned in.”  For those who are clueless.  Pregnant with the possibility that something good may be birthed out of even The Bad that has happened?

A bird family is taking up residence in the bird house at the edge of our front lawn.  This particular bird house has been vacant since last year.  Now suddenly, a couple is building, building, building their nest, their hopes on The Future.

A young (50-something) man showed up for work this week  One minute he was there; just minutes (and one heart attack) later, he was gone.

This man was a stranger to me.  But if he was not a stranger to You, Lord, his “New Beginning” this week was beyond anything he could have ever dreamed possible.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Was he Yours, Lord?  Did his family know it?  Are they, too, confident of their future reunion with their loved one because they know and trust You as the ultimate Promise Maker and Keeper?  If so, they are surely grieving deeply now..  but not as those who grieve without hope.  What a treasure it is to know that, by Your Amazing Grace, we will be together again, in Your Loving Presence, as Your Forever Family!

“We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.  For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep with Him.”  (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)

What about those who do not have this confidence, Lord?  Family.  Friends.  Coworkers.  Strangers.  Some older, some younger than the young man who left this world this week.  All those who are witnesses — from near and far away — of his life, suddenly stopped short.  Some — perhaps many?  all? — now wondering about (wrestling with?) the HOW and, more deeply, the WHY.

What will happen for them in this moment that is “pregnant” with Possibility?  Will their wondering (or wrestling) — at least, for some — become wishing?  Their wishing become wanting?  Their wanting become a willingness to say “Yes” to You… even when they still have more questions than answers?

“It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed… Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:10,12)

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)

Perhaps the greatest Beauty of New Beginnings is that they all begin in You, Lord.  The One who is not new.  The One who is as He has always been.  The One who never changes.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  (Hebrews 13:8)

“This is what the Lord says: … ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  I will build you up again… and you… will… go out to dance with the joyful.'”  (Jeremiah 31:3-4)

Praying for New Beginnings today, Lord — for all of us, in the ways we each need them…

Joyfully expectant,

Abba’s Girl

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *