THE SEEDS OF NEW BEGINNINGS
New years often equate to new beginnings but that has had me thinking about not only the beauty and excitement of them, but also how they can cause pressure too if we are not mindful. Hear me out…
Every January people ring in the new year with high hopes of it being the break-through year of dreams taking off and miracles happening. And January 1st, 2019 was just the same. I believed in the great blessings that the year would unfold as soon as the clock struck midnight. While I had tried to stay awake, I had made it to exactly 11:41 pm before drifting off deeper into those dreams. Until I woke up a few hours later on that first day with anything but a restored attitude. Instead, every ounce of my body struggled to get out of bed as I woke up with a massive headache.
Still, I pressed on as parents do…cooking and straightening up, packing and preparing for the upcoming school week after being off for winter break. So basically I was multitasking, or rather, task switching, but felt terrible. It was brutal. I told myself I would watch my former student and his college football team in the Citrus Bowl as I wrote and prepared a blog post. However, I found myself freezing under covers barely watching the game with a heating pad along my spine and my eyes fighting to stay awake. Soon enough, as the aches continued, the thermometer told me more of the story, a 101 fever!
Great! It was the first day of the year, the first day for a restored attitude and I could not work out because I felt so terrible. I could not write (I always started mornings off by praying and writing.) I could not spend time with my kids. I could not have time with my husband. I could not even eat. I was not productive. I just laid around and waited for bedtime. I wasn’t starting the new year off on the right foot. I couldn’t even get up on the wrong side of the bed because I couldn’t even get out of bed!
Through my frustration, I was trying not to feel discouraged so I thought of the upcoming and exciting opportunities possibly just around the corner. We had so much to look forward to…
My husband had a potential new job offer much closer to home. My daughter was finally getting to try straight cow’s milk with our allergist the following week. The results of my son’s annual blood work for allergy levels would be back soon and for the past two years they had dropped significantly for eggs and dairy. There was so much to look forward to,
so much to praise God for…
just around that corner…
if only I could turn to see
or move at all!
Then the next week came, I was healthy again but what I had hoped for…
what I had put my hope in… failed me.
My daughter did not pass the food challenge. My son’s annual results came back and they had stayed pretty much the same. My husband still had no news on the potential job offer that was discussed over a month ago. And soon after much negotiating back and forth, that fell through too.
For my agenda-driven self, this did not fit. This was not what I had drafted for my new year. I had no room to adjust, and yet, I had to.
Jen, breathe, it’s all just around the corner. Just not yet…
And then more…as I read my son’s report card, his teacher suggested getting him evaluated for speech, which obviously is not a negative thing but just more added to my plate, more added to the new year story I had not planned. Soon after, my daughter was diagnosed with a sesame allergy too.
One thing after another…
Guilt and frustration were having a field day because I had my focus and mindset wrong. I had my hope in wrong places. I had it in my circumstances and the pressure of the new year being a new start, or else…or else what?!
So I lost it throughout that month and spoke to the calendar as if it was my nemesis. 2019, what were you trying to do to me? It had only been 31 days, but negative news after negative news plus the pile up of responsibilities on my plate at school, built up for a meltdown. I started to think …What a “great” year this is going to be? Now what will this year bring? Can we restart?
And even something I totally had wrong, What had I done wrong to deserve this?”
Then, as I stopped myself to pray. These words spoke to my heart:
Be present and stay patient in prayer.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9 NIV)
It was the time to start declaring the year was going to be one of blessings. It was not time to be fooled by a bad day, week, month or season. It was certainly not the time to stand around and wait to enjoy “the right now.” The whole time when I was waiting for the perfect news to praise God and to declare how blessed we were, I had it all wrong. It’s not about waiting for the thunder to pass. It’s not about waiting for good news. We already have the Good News… Jesus. It’s not about waiting for the prayer to be answered, allergy to be cured, the money to come. It’s about seeing the beauty of the storm itself. It’s about accepting that some days, some weeks, some seasons just stink, and that. is. okay. But what is not okay is believing that those days and storms will always be. Instead, it is believing and knowing that they all have their purpose, that they do transform us into who we are called to be into our best selves. And for that, we can genuinely smile through it, knowing storms do eventually run out of rain. So let’s get those rain boots on and walk proudly through those puddles. Let’s allow laughter through all seasons. Let’s embrace the storm as we learn to dance in the rain, even if it tracks in some mud along the way.
So, that January of 2019 added a couple challenges. But wherever there are problems, there can be solutions as well. Thank God for that. And those are each a story in themselves to share for another time.
A few years prior to 2019, I had started spending time each day in God’s Word. Therefore, and thankfully, when I walked through that time, I was quickly reminded that it DID NOT work like my flawed thinking or the enemy was trying to tell me.
Instead, my sickness or bad day was NOT the truth. It did not hold the authority unless I gave it to it. Instead, every moment holds the opportunity for a new start.
A new start…
A new year…
A new week…
A new day…
A new moment…
A new chance…
Every moment holds the opportunity for that new chance.
Every moment is the chance to delight in the Lord.
“but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.” (Psalms 1:2-3 NIV)
And that brings me back to THE BEGINNING…
As I started to reread the Bible again this year in 2023, I could not help but to hear those first 3 words ringing on my heart.
“In the beginning…”
Sure, this passage takes us back to when God created the world, but the Bible also teaches us and can be applied to everything we walk through.
So I think of new beginnings…
new starts, new opportunities and how God made all things new. He makes us new.
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”
(Lamentations 3:22-24 NLT)
His mercy will not run out. We have access to it every single day and moment. Every time we go to Him, He refreshes us too. Still, there can be pressure in the new year and holding fast to resolutions or the pressure to become someone or something new, to rebrand ourselves, to change, but…
Resolutions are really about planting seeds, seeds of growth.
We don’t need to rebrand or force anything to step into who God created us to be. While the world will try to tell us to rush and hurry to get it done, we can rest in God and His strength. We can rest in knowing each seed planted matters. A tree doesn’t just magically appear. It takes time to grow. We are the same. Every seed and step matters even the ones that call us to rest and soak in His light and living water.
Sure it’s a new year but He is the same God, and He created each of us with, on and for a distinctly beautiful purpose. That doesn’t become more real with the changing of a calendar page, a number change or because the world celebrates it. Instead, it stands true then, now and forever. And this is true too…
Every moment holds the opportunity for a new chance.
So if the year didn’t start off right or the way we hoped for, we can decide right here right now or at any point to start afresh. And if our resolutions or goals need to be adjusted, we can reset them. We can restart. They are not set in stone. They are imperfect too so chances are they will need tune-ups here and there.
So The Art of a Messy House challenge is this… Come to God. Turn to Him.
Let’s talk to Him throughout the day. Let’s open the Bible and store His Word on our hearts daily too. Let’s find a Bible plan to read through for the year or even start with this week. I use one on the YouVersion app. Reach out to me here or on Instagram if you would like suggestions and recommendations on one.
God loves, forgives and guides us through it all. So let’s ALLOW Him guide us through.
Let’s put our Hope in Him. He never fails. Therefore, our Hope is secure. It is anchored in Christ.
It may be a new year but He is the same God.
The pressure of the world holds nothing on the blessings of the Lord. Therefore, let’s ring in this new year, standing on His everlasting, never-changing Word, character, promises and love… as we plant those seeds, trusting and believing in what God is growing right here right now.
So wherever we find ourselves despite the calendar page and date, may we remember that new beginnings can happen at any point, in any moment.
So I end with how it started,
“In the beginning…”
Embracing this moment as such…
a new beginning
and if I falter or have an “off day,” it is okay because tomorrow can also be that too…
a new beginning.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
(Genesis 1:1 NLT)
Dear God,
You grow beauty. Hold my hand as I plant these seeds. I pray to grow into everything You created me to be. I lift any pressure I feel and lean into Your strength. I embrace this moment, this new chance, this new opportunity… all for You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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