Something New

I know it’s September when on my morning walk, I have to pause to let the parade of grade schoolers in their clean sneakers and crisp back packs pass by on their bicycles. I love this time of year. It brings back such vivid memories of my childhood. Nothing says nostalgia like a brand- new pink pearl eraser and pack of newly-sharpened number two pencils.

Back-to-school didn’t mean back-to-what was. It signaled a new beginning. New teacher, new classroom, new subjects and maybe even some new friends.

That feeling of newness has stayed with me. It’s deep in my bones. This time of year, I get a real sense that I should start over or start anew at something. Much more so than the more traditional time of starting over on New Year’s Day. In September I feel the beginning of a new season. A clean slate where possibility and desire could become reality.

It surprises me a bit, that I have that same stirring this September considering that new beginnings in Cancerland are often a ways off as each new day seems to be mired in what is. But I do sense an excitement, like on that first day of school. Even when life is heavy and the rut is deep, there is a God-planted desire in each of us to live an abundant life. And God wants nothing more than to provide that abundant life. It’s waiting for us

Where could you use a new beginning? Where is God awakening your spirit to something new? Where does God want to give you a more abundant life?

Joan

For a New Beginning

In out of the way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this?

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with our life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back; learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

John O’Donohue