New beginnings are always exciting: weddings with candles
and flowers, beautiful bridesmaids, handsome groomsmen, laughter, toasts and dancing;
the birth of a baby wrapped in blankets, showered with gifts; graduations with
speeches about dreams and possibilities; a new job; a new home. Starting anew stirs our imagination.
New beginnings are filled with excitement, optimism, and
hope as well as fear, doubt and worry.
Weddings are fun, but making a marriage is hard work. Babies are cute, but raising a child is
challenging. Graduation marks a significant achievement, but finding a job and
advancing in a chosen career can be daunting.
We cannot predict our future. Not all newlyweds who leave the marriage
altar showered with petals and birdseed will experience a life-long
relationship of love and fulfillment.
Not all babies will grow to health and maturity. Not all graduates will find positions for
which they prepared. But, we are all
called to something new, something significant.
God always calls us forward into new beginnings. He beckons us to leave the old and familiar
to follow Him on a journey of discovery into places we have never been. He encourages us to calm our fears and
exchange our doubts for faith. He
challenges us to trust in Him for a better future and a better day. Even in
this Caronavirus fog, God is calling us preparing a future and a hope.
When God called Abraham, He called him from his familiar
home to follow Him into a strange land.
God said, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from
your father’s house to a land that I will show you; and I will make you a great
nation and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a
blessing.” (Genesis 12:1-2). Abraham’s
step of faith to follow God into a new beginning changed history.
To Isaiah, God said, "Forget
the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now
it springs up; do you not perceive it? I
am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isa.
43:18-19). Paul wrote, “If anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone. The new has come.” 2 Cor.
5:17).
The 2020 pandemic has thrown the world into confusion. Families, careers and whole economies have
been upended. But, on the other side, is
a new beginning. If we will persevere and be patient, we will find a new day
dawning with possibilities and opportunities.
God has promised.
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