Ready for a Fresh Start?

Overheard at the bank this afternoon: "...I'm just gonna have to start boilin' an' bakin'!"

The teller chimed in enthusiastically to agree with her customer who had lost some obvious poundage by taking matters into her own hands and changing her eating habits.

"I got tired of being hot and tired," the customer declared, "and I decided to do something about it." She needed a fresh start.

I thought about her as I left. Boilin' an' bakin echoed in my ears as I walked. She sat on the cusp of giving up fried foods and eating more fresh veggies, as she continued within earshot, and wisely knew something would have to take up the space and fill the vacuum of her old habits.

Something always does.

How many of us wish things were different? Wish we were different?

That we were healthier. Thinner. More secure.

Had a loving family.

A great job - or any job.

Had a home.

Had compliant children. Had any children.

Had a different skill set or coping mechanism for life's ups and downs.

When we contemplate all the things we collectively wish for, we see our longings represented all along a spectrum of life. The dream of one person fills the discard pile of another, who wishes for MORE.

Wishing it doesn't make it so.

On the other hand, to meditate on a thing...to prayerfully commit...to ponder and seek wise counsel, and step by step to act in regard to a possible new position--this gives wings to a new plan. The new plan may take root after its genesis.

Such a new start animates the drive within us which can propel us to action.

We will have many false starts along the way when we fail to follow through with our best intentions. Learn from them. Our mistakes and failures are probably more instructive than our successes. They, too, are part of the rhythm of life. But we are not tethered to the mirey pit feeling defeated and unable to budge.

One day we will cross over to the place where we are tired of being hot and tired about a pertinent issue. We will choose to do something. And it may start with a little help from our friends.

Some things we can change with courage and hard work. Other things, we learn to let go and pray for contentment to fill the void. That, too, is the task of a lifetime. But we must begin somewhere.

We may not need to start boilin' or bakin', but we may need another commitment to a lifestyle change for our good health--spiritually or physically. What is it that holds us back with invisible shackles?

Come to Jehovah Rapha, the God Who Heals, the One who loves us as we are--hot and tired!--and lovingly prepares for us a way when we cannot see clearly a path for ourselves.