The Dawning of a New Day: Part 1

“Be Not Afraid, I go before you always,come follow me and I will give you rest.  You shall cross the barren desert,but you will not die of thirst.  You shall wonder forth in safety though you do not know the way.  You speak your words in foreign lands & all will understand.  You shall see the face of God & live.  Be not afraid, I go before you always, come follow me & I will give you rest.”

A Blank Slate

The month of January marks the beginning of a new calendar year. Our calendars are currently filled with blank pages inviting us to fill the emptiness with recordings of the events & opportunities that we will experience day by day in the coming year. Each new day is a gift given to us by God. How we receive & live into the gift of life given to us by our Creator is up to us. The past is gone. The future is unknown. The present is all we own. It is ours to live into. At the start of this new year, we don’t know what the future holds for us but we do know that God our Creator holds the present & the future & walks with us & in that, is great comfort & hope. Undoubtedly we will each experience both beauty & suffering in one way or another in this year; seasons illuminated by the Light given to us by God, as well as, seasons clouded by darkness. Everything we do says something about who we are, so at the end of the year our calendars will tell our story. We enter this new year in the season of the Light that shatters the darkness & brings us hope. Throughout our journey this new year, darkness will come & will go but regardless of the lurking darkness that threads its way into our lives we know that “the Divine Light of God our Creator shines in the darkness & the darkness will not overcome it”. God our Creator is the giver of the Divine Light that illuminates our path. As we begin to fill the empty space that lays before us in the coming year there is no need to fear, for as the prophets foretold us, then & still now, we are boldly invited to step forward fearlessly into this new day & arise & shine for our light has come, & the glory of the Lord has risen upon us. Though darkness will come, the Lord will arise upon us & His glory will appear over us. It is faith in that assurance that is the embodiment of Hope, & it is Hope that is the fuel for our healing & wholeness.

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Spiritual Consultant with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy