New Beginnings
Interestingly, I had jotted down some points on the above-named topic when I got the inspiration. As far as I know I secured the paper with the jottings but when I was ready to expand on them, the paper was not found. So, in writing about New Beginnings, I actually had to make a new beginning on the topic.
What is a new beginning? It is new when done for the first time e.g. staying away from excessive drinking of alcohol, returning to the Sacrament of Reconciliation; starting to pray before going to bed; returning to church;
Many times well-intentioned people part with bad habits and pick up good ones but…before long, they do not persist with their new beginnings. Many reasons could be given – they demand too much effort; they failed in what they started too many times; and it seemed easier to remain with the old habits and inappropriate behaviour.
Readers, you are encouraged to note natural beginnings like: a new hour, a new day, a new week, a new month, a new year, a new decade and moon phases: new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter; the birth of animals and babies. All of these are connected to time. Being natural, these beginnings are all created by God. We have learned to calculate the time after animals mate – when they would be born and more often than not, the calculations are accurate. God wants us to take care of his creation, and that includes ourselves – human beings.
Adam and Eve who represent all of us, were blessed by God who said to them, ”Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and the living creatures that move on earth, … to you I have given all the seed-bearing plants, … and all the trees with seed bearing fruit. This will be your food. (Genesis 1:28 – 29.) This very well-known scriptural quotation clearly means that we human beings are stewards of the earth. We are supposed to take care of it for the Creator God. It is His. It belongs to God. In fact, nothing is ours. According to Job, “naked we come and naked we leave the earth”.
Whatever portion of land we own or have access to, we should take care of it. Even if a plot of land is not ours, we are not supposed to ill-treat it e.g by littering. Interestingly, God wants and expects us, human beings, to, not just take care but to be in charge: “Let us make man… and let them be masters of the fish of the sea and birds of heaven, the cattle and all the wild animals, and all animals that creep along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). When was that dominion of man over animals partially lost – when sin came into the world, as accounted by Genesis 3
A possible new beginning is an attempt to save planet earth from further degradation. If we litter, then we can stop and ensure that we dispose of our waste always in the right way in a bin, wherever we are. If none is available, we wait until we find a bin.
We are suffering from our inappropriate actions against planet earth e.g climate change, high sea levels… yet we continue with such actions. Stewards of the earth, let us continue taking care of the earth, or STOP if we are not taking care of it. Your example could cause others to change.
The NEW BEGINNING is to draw closer to our Creator God, and form a relationship with Him and appeal to Him to help us treat our planet better. Perhaps we were trying to do it alone. Let us appeal to Him and stay with Him. If we love the Creator shouldn’t we also love and take care of His creation?
