Thank God for "beginnings"! In a post at No Spring Chicken Debbie included this picture of her daughter's fresh journal at the beginning of the new homeschool year.I hijacked the title of the journal page. "I am. I ought. I can. I will." It inspired me!
Toward the beginning of his son Solomon's great undertaking - building the temple - David ... said to Solomon his son, "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished. (I Chronicles 28:20)
The English Standard Version puts it this way: "Be strong and courageous and do it."
I really get into "beginnings." I can say and have said with the best of them, "I am. I ought. I can. I will." At the end of the day, I want to be able to add: "I DID it!" As soon as I hit the publish button, I'm going to go do it.
"In the beginning God created..." (Genesis 1:1)
Great...for some reason I always feel that Sunday is a new beginning. Each week I feel that I have a new start. Thank you God for beginnings
ReplyDeleteToday is a new beginning for me, Rebecca.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "The Help" I've decided to journal my prayers....not simply a prayer journal like I've kept before, but actually write my prayers to the Lord like Aibileen did in the novel.
Love,
Jackie
i so agree with you about loving beginnings! A new year, new month, new week, new day ~ they are all so special and bright and shiny! i like the comment from Teacher's Pet. i am getting ready to read The Help and maybe i'll do the same thing. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteTHANK GOD we get to start anew each day.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
andrea
The changing of seasons always feels like a new beginning but also a little bit like the end of something. Therefore a new beginning always makes me happy and a bit sad a the same time :-) xo
ReplyDeletelove that ....I am. I ought. I can. I will. I did.
ReplyDeleteGreat quote! And great way to greet each day and live life!
ReplyDeleteAnd that must be one wonderful Mom/teacher! Such encouragement! It's so good to plant that seed of confidence.
I know Autumn is winding down to Winter and the end of the year, but something about Fall is so invigorating, and gives me such a feeling of beginning/renewal, even more so than Spring. I feel that way about the Autumn of my life right now too!
Love and Prayers,
Eileen
So... what did you do?
ReplyDeletepeace~elaine
Elaine, Quite a list of things actually. It was a visit to a neighbor recovering from hip surgery that I really needed to do - and I DID it!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to be back on your blog. Am enjoying my evening by visiting a few blog friends. In fact, I scrolled down a bit to read your previous posts. Hope the poison ivy in your system is clearing up!
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I so loved the October 1 story you posted. The pictures of your first day of the week were all beautiful! I loved the one of you with the two crosses, the blue sky, and the belfry.
Oh, and that mug! It is beautiful! Does it have a story?
And I so agree with what you said on this post - after all is said and done, what matters most is that we can say, "I did!"
Enjoyed my visit here today!
Love
Lidia
I recognize that quote! That's Charlotte Mason's motto for students. She wrote (in her first volume of her homeschooling series) that those words were the steps of the ladder of St. Augustine whereby we "rise on stepping stones
ReplyDeleteOf our dead selves to higher things."
She explained her motto thus:
"'I am'––we have the power of knowing ourselves. 'I ought'––we have within us a moral judge, to whom we feel ourselves subject, and who points out and requires of us our duty. 'I can'––we are conscious of power to do that which we perceive we ought to do. 'I will'––we determine to exercise that power with a volition which is in itself a step in the execution of that which we will. Here is a beautiful and perfect chain, and the wonder is that, so exquisitely constituted as he is for right-doing, error should be even possible to man. But of the sorrowful mysteries of sin and temptation it is not my place to speak here; you will see that it is because of the possibilities of ruin and loss which lie about every human life that I am pressing upon parents the duty of saving their children by the means put into their hands. Perhaps it is not too much to say, that ninety-nine out of a hundred lost lives lie at the door of parents who took no pains to deliver them from sloth, from sensual appetites, from willfulness, no pains to fortify them with the habits of a good life."
Your post was very inspiring. I have a lot of things I need to begin on!
Hi Rebecca! I too really love and get into the beginnings. My hubby is more of a perfectionist and it takes him longer to get started on beginnings because he wants to make sure he has all of the details so he can finish well. I guess we make a great team, complimenting each other with our opposites. But I have been working on being a better finisher and not stopping when I feel discouraged or fearful during the process like so many times have done over the years. It is my desire to be like Solomon and finish the job (just do it)as God instructed him to do.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post and reminder and for this scripture. I really needed to hear it today.
♥Lee Ann