Have you ever gone so far in a bad direction that you feel there’s no coming back? Is there a point where we’ve screwed up things so badly that there just can’t be a new beginning? Is the carnage that’s a result of our bad decisions, or our poor relationship choices, or our career failures, or our financial mis-management…does the carnage of all that stuff reach a point that a new beginning can never (and will never) find a place to begin?
Because once we give up on the idea of a new beginning...
Have you ever gone so far in a bad direction that you feel there’s no coming back? Is there a point where we’ve screwed up things so badly that there just can’t be a new beginning? Is the carnage that’s a result of our bad decisions, or our poor relationship choices, or our career failures, or our financial mis-management…does the carnage of all that stuff reach a point that a new beginning can never (and will never) find a place to begin?
Because once we give up on the idea of a new beginning, at that point we’ve allowed our mistakes and our failures to define us. They become who we are and who we will always be. We become the ‘bad’ of whatever bad we did. And I’m here to tell you that no one is the sum total of their choices. You will always be bigger than your worst mistake. And because that’s the case, there will always be a place for a new beginning.
Think about this:
“A new start is not about a new day. Rather, it’s about a new attitude. And that can happen any day.”
So what’s your attitude? People get tired of hearing about the idea of attitude. But your attitude shapes your reality. The Bible has a really great verse in Proverbs that says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Think about that. What you think about yourself is what you become. That is the power of attitude.
And so, “A new start is not about a new day. Rather, it’s about a new attitude. And that can happen any day.”
So here’s how to change your attitude. Here’s what you need to think about if you believe that you’ve screwed up things so badly that there just can’t be a new beginning for you. Here’s what you need think about:
“It’s not about the ashes, for they tell a tale of what was. It’s about having a vision sufficient to understand that the tale that lies among the ashes stands ready to build the dream that will rise above the ashes.”
The ashes in your life are the things that new beginnings arise from. Ashes are the ingredients of your new beginning. They’re not just what’s left over of whatever it is that you burnt up. The ashes in your life are the essential materials of great beginnings. They’re the fertilizer that nourishes great dreams. That needs to be your attitude.
Let’s look at it another. Think about this:
“To evaluate the probability of a new beginning as held against the overwhelming number of our mistakes, or the suffocating gravity of our pain, or the immensity of our losses is to forget that the most spectacular new beginnings are forged from the raw materials embedded in these very things. Therefore, the greater the things that would destroy us, the greater the new beginning that stands in front of us.”
Think about that. The most spectacular new beginnings are forged from the raw materials embedded in our mistakes, in the suffocating gravity of our pain, and in the immensity of our losses. Your new beginning is sitting in the very places where your worst endings took place. And more than, the worse the ending, the greater the beginning.
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