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New Beginnings

It was the night
before my first cataract surgery.  I
wondered if I would sleep.  Then I had a
message from my daughter, a grandma-to-be. 
As the night wore on, so did the labor pains of our granddaughter and
the messages of impending birth.  Then I
heard the phone ding the final message – a baby boy arrived.  Our 8th great grandchild!  Each great grandchild’s anticipated birth
filled me with joy and wonder. 
Generation after generation of those who come after and each one came
with the promise of beginnings.  A new
baby to love and cherish by family, a new baby is a new beginning, a
celebration of family.
A new beginning
for a new mother who settles in to the responsibilities a new baby brings.  A new baby is an added prayer.
Great-Grandparents have a long list to remember in prayer as the generations
wend their way through time. With the baby’s ‘firsts’ comes the parents’ ‘firsts’. 
The realm of love
expands with the succeeding birth of each child.  Love? 
Yes!  God is present, knitting
each child together in its mother’s womb. 
God Himself plants eternity in the heart of each child.  God grants life, a gift, to each of us.  God is the God of New Beginnings.
When we try to
raise our supposed status above our Creator, it is like a finished piece of
pottery that raises itself off the wheel to re-shape what the Potter has
created. 
We experience new
beginnings from the very beginning of our life when they are known as
‘Firsts’.  Walking, learning to talk,
loving others, learning to eat solid food, potty-training – each has a learning
quotient and with each learning quotient comes a new beginning.  The bar is raised as the ‘firsts’, are recognized
as new beginnings.  There is the first
job, ownership of a house, a car, marriage – all new beginnings.  A move is a new beginning and there are no
coincidences.  What does God have for us
in a move?  Ask Abraham.  God gives us a new vista in a move to teach
us and readies our faith and trust to live with Him for an eternity.
Each New Year
brings a new beginning!  God is the God
of New Beginnings.  We celebrate the New
Year in many ways.  My mother celebrated
in prayer for the new year of New Beginnings. 
My daughter celebrates in searching for a scripture as a theme to live
by in the New Year. They understand the depth of new beginnings.
One of the joys I
have is reading a good story.  The plot
travels on through chapters and many difficulties are overcome by the
characters.  A good story is one where
the main character changes and experiences victory by the last page.  God has a story recorded in the
Scriptures.  There are many characters
who endure and have new beginnings.  Job,
Joseph, Noah, Moses, Abraham, David, Jesus, the prodigal son, Peter and many
more made new beginnings and ended triumphantly. 
These stories
stand…as examples.  We read and we know how
to live our story with the understanding of the plot.  We live our story with the hope and joy that we
have in being a part of the Story of God. 
The secret of new beginnings without dead ends is encased in the words
of C.S. Lewis. 
“The more we let God take us over, the more
truly ourselves we become – because He made us. He invented us. He invented all
the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn
to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have
a real personality of my own.”
Are there any
‘do-overs’?  The story of Noah and the
flood is about second chances and new beginnings.  God is always ready to give us another
chance.  He never shuts the door.  Tim Keller says that God calls us into three
great relationships:  with the earth,
with all the people on earth and with the Lord of the earth.  These relationships are saving
relationships. 
New beginnings
and endings are all about the most important relationship of all – with the
Lord God.  When we love Jesus with no
exceptions, we love others with no exceptions, and each day becomes a
celebration of New Beginning.  Each day becomes
a day of joy and hope.  We raise our
hands to worship our Lord, and extend our arms to love those in our walk each
day.  My Mom once said, “Each day I
awake, I ask God, what do you have  for me
do, think and say this day?” 
From moment to
moment…as we pray, listen for God’s leading. Each moment with God is a new beginning.  Can you ever comprehend his great love and
caring for each of us…as we discover our New Beginnings in Him?
In the beginning God…..
Genesis 1:1-2 – In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth.  The earth was formless and empty, and
darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the
surface of the waters.
2 John 1:5-6  I am
writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This
is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning Love means doing what God
has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you
heard from the beginning.
I John 3:11 – This is the message you have heard from
the beginning: We should
love one another.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 – Yet God has made
everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human
heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Luke 15:11-32  – The Prodigal Son…

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