He's Breathing New Life Into The Dead Places Again (Guest Post)

Today, I am pleased to introduce Stephanie, from the S-clan and Joy In The Blink, as my first-ever guest blogger!  I asked her to write down some of her thoughts on the new year, and she thrilled me (as always) with this post.  Don't forget to head over to her blog after reading to check out more of her writing at Joy In The Blink.
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photo credit

There’s something wonderful about being at the beginning. A new marriage, a new baby, a new house, a new canvas.

Then, one of two things happens: the newness wears off and I get bored, or (the worst thing) I mess it up so badly that what I prized about the newness is forever lost. I like new because it speaks of untold possibilities. They’re endless, but what I hate most about myself is the projects I have started that end up looking so messy.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how many things I have already messed up: decisions I have made that can’t be undone, words I have said to friends that I can’t take back, dollars spent that can’t be returned, mistakes I have made in child-rearing that my children will need God to meet them in.

And I am faced again with this bitter truth: I am not perfect.

Oh, how I hate that!

New means possibility, but once I grace (OK, touch) the canvas, I usually feel like I am woefully inept to execute the beautiful work of art I see in my mind. And I fail time and time again to be the image-bearer of Christ that I want to be.

My grandest aspirations end up looking like my kids’ finger-painting gone-awry.

And so I hold it up to God. Like my kids, I need the affirmation that comes from the Father.

And he takes it, makes it new, calls it beautiful, and shows me what a work of beauty he can make from my messes and failures.

It’s the work of resurrection, and its happening now.

So as I process this coming year, I look again at the threads of life I am working with, and I am again dealing with how often we begin in the middle of things with neither beginning nor end in sight. But He’s breathing new life into the dead places again. A new year, a new beginning, a wonderful reminder of the fresh start I am given each day in Him.

What kinds of things are you doing to start fresh this year?