New Beginnings

So it begins. Yesterday I began my journey to Rome. As are with most transitions in life, there are a mixture of emotions. Excitement at a wonderful new opportunity, yet at the same time the unanswered questions and the challenges that await a new way of life. I imagine it's the mixture of emotions that are inside so many of us. The newly wed couple, the college bound 18 year old or the young priest heading to Rome for further studies. In life with every new step comes both the excitement and the anxiety of what the future holds. The knowledge that life will go on, but also thinking it probably won't be the same. Forced to confront this reality, questions do arise. Will things work out? Will I be okay? How will life be different? Perhaps it's a little over dramatic, but I do believe that in this life these are just a few of the questions we encounter along the transitions of life. Certainly it can't be compared with the grieving parents, the cancer stricken father or the divorced or widowed spouse. These transitions don't provide much excitement or any joy. Yet the same questions do arise. Will things work out? Will I be okay? How will life be different?

In a world where we expect a quick answer to many of life's questions at the click of a google search, facing transitions where there is no quick or easy answer can be frustrating and difficult. Why can't we just know what will happen next? Why don't we just hear God's voice speak to us crystal clear as a voice of a parent to a child saying, "it will all be okay!"

So what do we do when life's questions are not so quickly answered? We turn to God's word, God's revelation, God's promise. In Psalm 37:5 we are invited, "Commit your way to the LORD; trust that God will act." And Isaiah 30:15 we hear, "For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies" and in Hebrews 6:15, "And so, after patient waiting, he obtained the promise." You see, God does speak to us. God does tell us it will be okay! Perhaps not always with the straight lines we draw for ourselves but after all we must remember, God says in Isaiah 42:16, "I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them, and I will not forsake them."

And so as Scripture reminds us, no matter where we may be or what we are going through, if we are committed to God, we trust God will act, and we are patient, God will not forsake us, rather God will show forth His promise, a promise of new life, a new beginning!

"Today, as you see, I am going the way of all men. So now acknowledge with your whole heart and soul that not one of all the promises the LORD, your God, made to you has remained unfulfilled. Every promise has been fulfilled for you, with not one single exception." - Joshua 23:14