New Beginnings, New Hope

'In the beginning' are the first words of the Bible. We are used to starts and ends in our lives, sometimes the starting can be the hardest part, although the ending of something cherished, like a career or a relationship can be extremely painful. Some one said that an end of one thing is the start of a new beginning!

We are a people with a beginning, both spiritually and physically, and although the physical might come to an earthly end, the spiritual side keeps going.

Jesus is described as 'the Alpha and Omega' to us, the beginning and the end.

This might remind us of our utter dependence upon Christ, without him we would have no awareness or make no movement towards God without his work in our hearts, and also, that without him we will never make it safely through to the end of our journey.

We shouldn't get stuck always looking back to our first beginning with God, something God did in the past, no matter how great that was. We need to remember that he is always at work and every day is a new beginning. This is really important when we mess up so we don't allow the enemy to bog us down in recrimination and regret, and begin to feel valueless and incapable. He will stop us picking ourselves up and starting again if he can. God, however, is also doing a new, fresh work in us everyday, transforming us continually on our journey. Our spiritual beginning is just that, a start, for us, the start of an eternal journey of trust with God.

'Over 2,000 years ago a young Greek artist named Timanthes studied under a respected tutor. After several years the teacher's efforts seemed to have paid off when Timanthes painted an exquisite work of art. Unfortunately, he became so enraptured with the painting that he spent days gazing at it. One morning when he arrived to admire his work, he was shocked to find it blotted out with paint. Angry, Timanthes ran to his teacher, who admitted he had destroyed the painting. "I did it for your own good. That painting was retarding your progress. Start again and see if you can do better." Timanthes took his teacher's advice and produced Sacrifice of Iphigenia, which is regarded as one of the finest paintings of antiquity.' 

Today in the Word, September 2, 1992.

so let us press on in God today, who knows what new things will spring up out of our current circumstances? we trust that God will use all things together for good to them that love him!

Let us look for the freshness of our creative Father working in our lives and in the community around us!