In the beginning...

 Everything has a beginning. A baby is born, the beginning of life. Vows are exchanged the beginning of a marriage. A foundation is laid, the beginning of a new home. The sun comes up, the beginning of a new day.

Everything has a beginning. I’ve been thinking about beginnings lately, or more specifically the importance of beginning right. You may have heard the saying get off on the right foot. The free dictionary defines it as to begin doing something in a way that is likely to succeed. Success! We all want it, but do we always plan for it?

There is another saying that goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Ouch! Almost everything has a plan; we just don’t always follow it. You know, like we don’t pre-heat the oven or follow the recipe or we don’t read the instructions and end up with a pile of nuts, bolts and screws, you know the drill.

I love God’s word. It changed my life. His word was the beginning for me. I found out He had a plan for my life, a plan of purpose, a future filled with hope. Have you ever thought about how both the Old and New Testaments begin? Genesis 1:1 says, In the beginning was God and John 1:1 starts, In the beginning was the word and the word was God.

I can’t help but wonder how different our lives would be if in all of our beginnings it could be written…in the beginning was God.  What if every new day began with God? What if all of the “news” in our lives began with God: a marriage, a career, and the birth of a child, a diet and on and on? What if we never tried to do it ourselves and then asked God to help us out of our failed plan but instead asked Him to be part of our plan from the start.

God’s word tells us He has a plan. His word tells His ways are better than ours. I love this scripture found in the Message Bible. It simply says, we plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it. Proverbs 16:9

My hope for you today and every day is that you will find God in your beginnings and He will make your plans succeed.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11