In the beginning....

The ripping of the wrapping paper has given way to the ripping of the calendar to show a new month, a new day, and a new year.  With a new year, people often have resolutions, a word of the year, goals, habit trackers, and new planners.  The churches and gyms are more crowded and for many there is a feeling of change, anticipation, hope that lingers, but not for everyone.

Last year was a quite a year.  I traveled, hiked, watched my daughter graduate, dropped her off at college, celebrated grand babies birthdays, got engaged, and had my heart broken into more pieces than I can ever remember when the engagement and relationship ended.  It was a year full of beginnings and endings. 

This morning, as I was going back to the beginning of the Bible, the first few verses spoke to me with a fresh message.

 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. "

Genesis 1:1-2 NIV

I felt drawn to the description of the earth in these verses.  Formless. Empty.  Darkness over the deep.  It feels like the way I have felt a lot the last few months. It feels like what someone would paint if they painted sadness, depression, and grief. It is the picture I see when I think about finding the energy to take a shower, or make my bed, or even brush my teeth.  It's the gloom of thinking it takes too much energy to put on shoes or clothes and go to the store or visit family. An abyss. A black hole. 

 But there is such a beauty there in the same description of the darkness.  The word says, "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." 

Hovering. What a beautiful word to describe God just waiting to begin His rescue story. Even in the darkness, he was present. God didn't just stay in hover mode though; he spoke and light appeared!

"And God said, Let there be light and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness."

Genesis 1:3 

 This year, if you are starting the year with an ending from last year that leaves you feeling more like the formless, empty, and darkness of the deep, I encourage you, and me, to try to focus on verse 3.  

God speaks into the darkness and brings light and He called it good. Even if the light feels dim, find any you can. If your resolutions begin with brush your teeth every day then amen. Brush those babies and when you are ready add in make your bed. Don't let the new beginning of the year cover you with shame for hurting. Embrace whatever process God uses in your life, but never quit listening for His voice to speak and looking for the light. After all, God didn't create everything in a day, so why act as if the calendar change erases the hurts He is still healing in you.  

May 2023 be a year where you see the Spirit of God.