A New Beginning
We hear how each day is a new beginning, the first day of the rest of our life. It is said that we should start each day grateful for the blessings God has bestowed on us.
I heard a motivational speaker articulate to an audience that when we arise each day we choose the direction of our day. We either proclaim, “Good morning God!” or we exclaim, “Good God it’s morning!” No matter which proclamation we begin with, both announce a new beginning.
Some days we may glide through the entire day joyfully right into the evening. Some days may present enormous challenges, and the gliding is much bumpier. How do we approach or even survive the enormous challenges?
It is also said that it is not what happens to us that defines us but how we respond to what happens to us. Let’s face it, some of the events in our lives are not anticipated and hit us like a bombshell going off. We may not be prepared with a response that will guarantee good results. Something to contemplate is how do we respond to those challenging events in our lives, large or small?
Fear tends to be the most paralyzing response. A great acronym for the reality of FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. This is not to say that the event or issue we are dealing with is not real. Rather, all of the imaginative possible consequences that go through our mind is where we need to stop and gain composure and most of all pray.
Serious challenges tend to generate different responses. Denial (head in the sand) is a costly response that only delays and likely further complicates things. Emotional outbursts and responses do not tend to be helpful either.
Early in our marriage I found myself without a job because the company I worked for had decided to close down their direct operations which included the one I managed. After being out of work for nearly three months our savings was exhausted and we were served with a notice that we would be in default of our mortgage if we didn’t send a check to satisfy the delinquency. As you can imagine, praying for a new source of income was high on our list. Two days before the payment was due we received a check in the mail for the exact amount needed to satisfy the notice. The letter adjoining the check indicated we had overpaid an insurance payment and here was a refund. Our prayers turned from petitioning the Lord to thanking Him.
Here's another acronym that carries tremendous wisdom and we should always strongly carry through the challenges. The acronym is True Resolve Under Severe Testing. TRUST! Trust in God. The end result to our prayers may not be exactly what we think we want or need but God truly loves you and He above all feels your pain. In St. Faustina’s Diary she notes the Lord saying that our lack of Trust in Him wounds Him more than sin especially because He wants so much to share His love and mercy with us.
Jesus demonstrated great trust and obedience to the Father in His final hours in the garden, even to the point of sweating His blood. Our suffering in this world may be great but God lightens our suffering when we trust in Him.
Doubt, discouragement, and anxiety are tools of the evil one. Satan uses these and more to cause us to look to ourselves or others for solutions when God is always our source of love and mercy. Satan wants nothing more than to destroy us where God is the true source of love.
Isaiah 41:13 reads, "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'" Trust! Let us not lean away from God but rather lean towards Him trusting He is our rock. God finds joy in our starting everyday with Him and finishing it out as well. Let us begin our new day focusing on thanking Him for His great gifts to us especially his love and mercy. Let us end the day in review of our day thanking Him for what He blessed us with, and examining on how we can be better tomorrow with that new beginning and gift.
Oh how God loves to see us shine like the Son. Keep shining!
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