beginnings...

are always exciting! Beginning a new school year... Beginning a new season... Beginning.... anticipation & excitement of the "new" overshadow reality.

This time, however, I approach our new beginning with a completely different perspective. This is not a beginning that we would have chosen; we have, rather, been chosen for a "new beginning". Our lives will not know "normal" as we have known "normal" until now - for our lives have been invaded by the dreaded dragon known as "cancer".

Yet. Our lives can continue with a sense of normalcy for there is much that remains the same. God remains the same today as He was yesterday. God continues to weave a tapestry of threads - a tapestry that includes both the dark colours of sorrow and hardship and those lighter colours that reflect joy and carefree abandon. I am thankful that as God brings shadows into our lives, He never leaves us there. Like the Amish quilt pattern, Sunshine & Shadows,* He weaves both the darker hues & the lighter ones into a beautiful design - one that can only be appreciated because of the varying hues of colour.

Where do we go from here? How do we maintain our integrity as we encounter this new beginning?

We start by acknowledging that:
(1) God knows
(2) God cares
(3) God loves
(4) God IS

* Thank you, Boss, for your God-Breeze