Begin to Live

I'm fairly certain that fall has not descended upon us here in DC, but the past two days have surely felt like it. It's been great to get outside and feel the cool breeze. I love the fall season. For most people, January marks the start of a new year, but I always associate the new year feeling with September. I’m not sure why that is; perhaps it stems from the decades I spent in the academic setting. As the temperature drops and the calendar turns, I’m whisked back to the excitement that fall brought in the shopping excursion for new school clothes and school supplies. I look forward to a glorious new season in Death Valley where the LSU Tigers will pummel the Roll Tide of Alabama. My calendar fills with hikes along colorful trails and days at the pumpkin patch. Fall is a time of new beginnings for me.

New beginnings is a theme we see throughout the pages of Scripture. God promises to give us a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19) and he has created a new covenant (Hebrews 10:16). He makes us new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17), He gives us new commandments (John 13:34), and His mercies begin new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). One day, He will make a new heaven and earth (2 Peter 3:13), and in the meantime, He has left his church to spread his Good News (Mark 16:15).

As I enter the fall semester, I'm challenged to make some new beginnings. Proverbs 9:6 says, “Leave your simple ways behind and begin to live.” What a great commandment; I need to obey it.