There are times when my biggest challenge is just ‘getting started.’ My mother used to say, “my ‘get up and go’ done ‘got up and left.’” That’s when I stare blankly at my computer, my brain cocooned in layers of inertia. It usually happens in the middle of a major project or as I’m nearing the end of a long, drawn out and rather thankless task.
My theology accepts the fact “In the beginning, God created…” I’m okay with him having wrapped it up in six days (whether or not these were twenty-four hour days or ‘thousand year days’ or something else altogether has never been important to me; sorry). But I do find it interesting that “he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done” (Gen.2:2). God paused. The idea of God taking a break has a refreshing appeal. That he took time to admire what he had done and congratulated himself by saying it had all turned out to be “very good” just seems like the right thing. We should all do it once in a while.
But by the time I get to chapter 6 in Genesis, mankind has become so egregious in behavior toward God and one another that “the Lord was sorry that he had made man…grieved in his heart…” and decided to “blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land (along with everything else in sight) for I am sorry that I have made them.”
I’ve had days like that, too. Days when I was sorry I had ever started on whatever it was I was working on (like this new website, for example). Sorry that I had to face all those people again on Sunday. Sorry I was in the middle of something that I couldn’t just stop and walk away from. Sorry things didn’t go my way. Sorry my creative juices were gone. My ‘get up and go’ had ‘got up and left.’
I think that may be why God paused. He had so thoroughly invested in the creative process that he needed time to refresh. And even when he was so disheartened at the outcome that he felt like destroying it all, thankfully, God paused. He took the time to see Noah and his family and, in doing so, decided everything wasn’t a total loss after all.
So I’m relieved when I arrive at a momentary ‘end of things.’ I attribute this characteristic to having been made in God’s image. We need time out now and then to reflect and to be able to say, “Would you look at that? That was very good, if I do say so myself.” We need a fresh month every thirty days or so and a New Year once in a while. It keeps us from getting depressed over what hasn’t worked out the way we thought it should have so that we want to throw in the towel. Or worse.
These built in new starts give us a chance to spot the “Noahs” in our ministry or our personal life, to realize that they have value and meaning and purpose, not only in our eyes, but in God’s eyes as well. These are times to refresh, to rejoice, to recall the blessedness of our Calling, to give thanks for the privilege of serving those whom Jesus loves.
So as this New Year begins, take a deep breath. With God’s empowerment, getting started means being more creative this year than last, being found among the faithful, keeping an eye out for his blessings every day, making 2010 a year for stirring the glowing embers in your peers and leaving a light on for the next generation. Yes, and we hope you enjoy our new website. We think it is going to be a giant step forward in better serving each of you. Let us know what you think.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9)
Happy New Year.
Ward Tanneberg
CASA Network Executive Director
