"In the beginning..."

“In the beginning...” these words hold tremendous anticipation and hope for a moving and powerful story to unfold. Will there be a damsel in distress or a dashing hero who comes to the rescue? Will they ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after, or settle down to raise a family in their childhood village? Who knows, but one can always hope!

These days of ours are filled with cynical voices who predict the end of beauty and innocence, rather than dream of the goodness that was once ours. In those cool evening walks, we could taste a hope fulfilled. But now, well, now the bitterness of war and hate, disbelief and 'realism' have drowned out our childlike joy and zeal for life. We are left to pursue our own aims and secure what meager status our hands can clasp.

But what if we began to dream again? What if our weary minds began to once again come to life with the long lost memories of Eden? Perhaps we could reclaim the anticipation and hope that once captured our minds with the words, “In the beginning...”

“In the beginning” points to the future – of what is to come – all the while remembering the foundations of our earliest days. It sets us off on a journey into a future that we cannot see, full of risks and joys that will only be ours if we take that leap of faith and trust the one who is both beginning and end.

The Scriptures speak of a beginning that has always been and will always remain. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

Out of this beginning came life and love and hope and peace. And he offers to lead us into a new beginning, a new life full of possibilities of infinite proportions. What if our days began with these words, “In the beginning?” What if our comings and goings were filled with the hope and anticipation which are captured in these three words? Would it change the world? Would it change our lives? Would it change our days?

Perhaps this is just a crazy dream, or maybe, just maybe this is a chance to begin again ~ to start-over and enter life with a refreshed heart that longs for something more than we've known.

"In the beginning..." What a phrase!