In the beginning...

On this New Year's Day, I find myself contemplating the beginning of time. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1, HCSB) At the Creation, the world was so different than our's today. In the beginning "God saw all that He had made, and it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). Today, many of us can agree that things are not good - there are things going on politically, socially, and personally that we are all unhappy with. So at the ringing in of the New Year, we make resolutions to adjust our behavior, our choices, our outlooks, hoping it will bring about change - change that will address past choices, mistakes, and failures - change that will lead to improvement in the future days. Often times our resolutions involve statements like, "I will exercise more," "I will let go of past hurts," "I will reduce my debt," "I will quit smoking permanently," "I will blog more," "I will finish my art projects," "I will become involved in charity work," "I will read up more about the issues," "I will keep up with my friends more." While all these things are indeed good aspirations (and many reflect my goals for this 2013 year), they unfortunately center all around the self. "I" this and "I" that. So this year my New Year's resolution is this: to allow myself to be led by the guiding grace of the Lord God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit into a renewed spirit of love and faith. Love and faith was the atmosphere at the time of Creation when God created Adam and Eve, for He loved them, and they trusted Him. That all changed when the serpent tricked Adam and Eve, and they made the choice to disregard God's command by eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; by taking matters into their own hands they were cast out of the Garden - an act with consequences that has since reverberated down the generations and explains the human longing for new beginnings. Put your your faith and love back with God like it was at the Beginning. Change for good cannot happen without His help, without His Hand guiding our steps. Trust that He will lead to our betterment. We can see from Adam and Eve's example that we fail when we act without Him. If you are struggling, allow God to create a new beginning within you this New Year by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Put life where it was meant to belong, in the Hands of our Loving and Gracious Lord.