by June Friesen
We are into another year. A year of treasures yet to be embraced and lived. So many questions tend to want to take up residence in our thoughts as to where, what, why, how etc. When I take time to consider the Scriptures and the many stories recorded for our instruction and examples movement tends to be a given. We have all opened new calendars with the year 2024 in bold numbers. And with the opening of the new calendar we also begin to realize that there are so many adventures ahead and for many of us there will also be many unexpected adventures and beginnings as well. I for one find myself upon a new precipice – moving once again. I find myself more intrigued as it comes closer as we are moving into a home we had already lived in for many years. So what is God up to now? What does He have in mind for this season that in many ways seems to be once again holding new beginnings?
I find myself pondering many moving situations in the Scriptures and no doubt in some cases people reacted a bit like I am feeling. Abraham was one who no doubt wondered many times what is God going to think of next? What is going to happen next? Where am I ever going to get to put down roots? And besides that I am sure he wondered abut the promise of all the descendants God promised him as he grew old and still had no children. I have chosen a few verses from Genesis 13 to share today.
God said to Abram, “Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west. Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. I’ll make your descendants like dust—counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth. So—on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its length and breadth; I’m giving it all to you.”
It had taken Abraham some traveling and moving around before he really was able to settle down in the land of Canaan that God had promised him. I am sure that he was wondering when was he going to get to settle down and no doubt his wife Sarah was wondering as well. I also have to wonder how many times she must have complained – ‘not again.’ Abraham somehow found himself taking what I call the long way around to the promised land. What made Abraham obedient to each of these moves? It is true that at least one or two of the moves were because of famine in the area he was living at a certain time. None the less the important thing is obedience to go and to do what God says and when God calls. And in the end he was able to finally settle in the ‘Promised Land’ – the land that is often described as the ‘land of milk and honey’ which I choose to define as a land of promised blessing and care by God.
Forty-four years ago I found myself packing up our household. It was an interesting time as I packed most of it to remain behind including all our furniture. We (my husband, our two small sons and myself) shipped a few boxes and packed or maybe stuffed our car and started on a journey of some 2800 miles give or take a few as we stopped to see some family on the way. My husband had one year of schooling to complete a degree. Then instead of moving back to where our things were, we found ourselves having to return just to retrieve our things from Toronto as we moved to Phoenix, Arizona where we still live today. As I pondered the verses from Genesis today, I too have to think what a trip life has been just living within a radius of about twelve miles and this makes the fifth move in forty three years. Each move finds us making changes as I am sure Abraham found as well. So what will one pack, what will one discard, and what will one leave behind? I actually have learned a few things and again I am learning.
God’s Promises Are Always Good – New and Fresh Every Morning
God, what is ahead I ask?
What is Your plan for me?
What do I need to take with me this time?
Will this not be the last trek I need to prepare for here on this earth?
As I consider Abrahams’s journey with You
He faithfully followed Your call to move
Even though at times it was not a long distance,
And all the time he no doubt was wondering –
‘Where is this special land God has for me?
And when will God give me an heir(s)
To multiply and bring about a people –
With a population greater than the amount of stars in the sky?
God, sometimes we also feel a bit like Abraham –
We wonder where we will ever get to settle in
And really put roots down –
As just when we feel our nest is securely made
The call is to open the wings
And begin to fly again.
Does the bird too feel this way as he/she sets out on a journey
Flying from a resting place to a nesting place?
Does the bird sometimes feel too
That like is rather difficult as just when I have settled it is time to be on the fly again?
As one considers the bird,
As one considers Abraham and Sarah,
As one considers the peoples of the earth,
Many are the reasons to move onward –
It may be that new opportunities of education or work await –
It may be that one has become too settled or complacent about life
Possibly losing focus on God and actually having become rather self-centered.
And so it is that God says –
Arise, come and see this new place I have for you,
Come and see the beginnings I have for you,
Come and see what only I your God can do,
And not only will you be surprised
But you will be wowed as well.
So spread your wings my dear child,
Let Me become the wind under your wings,
You and I are going to rise and soar once again
And no, you will not get tired as I am Your energy,
You will not grow weak because I am your strength,
You will not fail in what I have because I have got your back,
Yes, my dear child,
You are on a growing spurt once again –
And just you wait as you start to see
What it is that I have in my plan for you and Me.
Remember when you study about My ways in the Scriptures,
I often chose to use those who thought they had completed their life call,
And it was just about that time that I showed up again
And said ‘oh but I have another plan yet’
And off we would go again.
And so it is with you my friend,
I still have more that only you can do
As I have it in a cache marked with your name –
And it was/is time to open a new beginning once again.
Remember in the Scriptures age meant nothing to me –
I chose young, I chose elderly,
I chose men, I chose women,
I chose children and
A couple of times I even used some of my creatures.
So, my dear child,
Embrace today, and be ready to embrace tomorrow,
Embrace the week that is coming as well as the month ahead
And let us see not only what this next year holds
But onward let us go and see what it is that your life indeed yet holds.
And so I choose to place my hand in His,
And I begin this new journey, this new move in my life,
And as I do I ask:
“Will you too choose to embrace the new beginnings God has for you?”
Your will be glad you made that choice in the end –
So –
SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND RISE WITH THE SPIRIT’S ENERGY
INTO GOD’S NEW BEGINNINGS FOF YOU!
AMEN AND AMEN!
photos by June Friesen. Scripture take from The Message