Start Today

Don’t Wait Around for a Perfect Beginning–Start Today!

Posted on by Michele Morin

Conversations on a long road trip are often memorable, perhaps because desperation drives us to dig deeper—or at least to try harder. Somewhere on the Jersey Pike, we were talking about healthy habits and the difficulty of sustaining them. We lamented the hard work of Scripture memory and the need for continuous review.

Our thoughtful friend finally confessed, “I’ve been thinking about making a schedule, assigning a week to each of the passages I’ve memorized over the years. I just need to get started on making that schedule…”

Of course, her words started my wheels turning, but weeks went by with no schedule. Sometimes, though, we just have to go ahead and build the plane while we’re flying it. Sometimes, we can’t wait for the perfect beginning. We just have to begin!

I reviewed Psalm 46 in the car on the way to work that week. Then 1 Corinthians 13. The next week I brushed up on Romans 8, and I’m keeping track of all this in my calendar. By this time next year, I will have created a schedule!

Start Today!

Are there habits of holiness you embraced in January only to succumb to the mid-February Fizzle? Begin again!

What discipline beckons to you from the realm of wishful thinking? Start today!

Know, too, that you will not begin alone. God meets our slightest movement in his direction with his massive mercy and his steadfast, never-giving-up love. He is a profligate distributor of new beginnings!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:22-23

Resolve this minute to let God carry you into good routines, practiced imperfectly, but with perseverance. Even on the best of days, my own spiritual practices are what poet Denise Levertov would describe as “intently haphazard,” sort of a hen house built in a windstorm. Even so, I am learning to embrace the new beginning of every day with each small act of obedience a victory, and every step an arrival.

Holding you in the Light,

Have habits of holiness embraced in January succumbed to the February Fizzle? Begin again! What discipline beckons from the realm of wishful thinking? Let God carry you into good routines, practiced imperfectly, but with perseverance.

And now let’s talk books…

Reading is a great habit to establish in 2022, and this week I’m sharing two books rooted in hard times, hoping that if you are currently experiencing loneliness or if you are grappling with challenges around the aging process, you will find hopeful and healing practices to encourage you along the way.

The Loneliness Epidemic

If it seems to you that loneliness is a bigger problem than it used to be, if you find yourself inexplicably feeling alone, it’s not your imagination. In cooperation with the Barna Group, Susan Mettes has done the research to compare “a more normal time” pre-pandemic with the spring of 2020 when our lives began to be impacted by COVID-19 era isolation and social distancing.

Any study of feelings presents the challenge of being subjective, but because it is a chronic problem (1 in 7 Americans is chronically lonely), and because the surgeon general declared loneliness a national epidemic, Mettes took on the task of interrogating America’s loneliness. She observed underneath our loneliness problem an intimacy problem. We have fewer trusted relationships than we used to, and our privileged lives have insulated us behind walls of privacy. Even church attendance is not the solution to loneliness church leaders might imagine.

With that in mind, The Loneliness Epidemic takes on the most common misconceptions about loneliness including the stereotypes about who is lonely and who isn’t. Speaking directly to church leadership, Mettes identifies belonging, closeness, and realistic expectations as a three-legged stool “holding up a surface that you can rest on and allowing your loneliness to subside.” (114)  Remove or shorten any of the three legs, and the stool just won’t set well.

Wading through data and charts is definitely worth the effort when the conclusions come crashing in with relevance and hope. Because we have a long road ahead of us, there will be no quick fixes in the last chapter. Instead, we must look directly and fearlessly at loneliness and fortify relationships on every level, one broken barrier and one solid connection at a time.

Our relational God who made us in his own people-loving image holds all the answers to loneliness in his good hand. Our only comfort will ultimately be found in right relationship with him.

Aging Faithfully

If you are paying attention to your life, you know that you are aging. Growing older is a given; however, even though the process is not optional, we have all kinds of control over how we age. Alice Fryling has drawn upon her years of life well-lived and her experience as a spiritual director to commend to her readers the practice of  Aging Faithfully.

In every sense, growing older is shot through with mystery. We do not know whether we will slide into our nineties with vigor or be stricken with early decrepitude followed by a slow decline to the end. Strong spiritual practices and a mindset that admits to the sovereignty and goodness of God are solid companions for the movement into the liminal space created by the aging process.

I appreciated Fryling’s observations that generative living involves both learning and unlearning. Credos that served me well in my 20’s and even into my middle years may become impossible to manage in an aging body. I may need to relinquish familiar roles and duties to make room for God the Holy Spirit to begin a new work in me. In any case, I want to embrace faithfulness as a healthful alternative to my current idols of productivity and control.

I have a full decade of living to do before I qualify for the biblical quotient for old age, but Aging Faithfully has fortified me for the journey into the unknown. I will be watching for evidence of new birth and opportunities to let go of the false self and faith practices that no longer serve me well. I will begin now to trust for grace to hold things loosely, for I know that loss will be on the horizon, and I must learn to grieve well.

I plan to lean into community for wisdom in assessing how the advancing years are impacting the exercise of my spiritual gifts and professional skill set. God offers the alternative of peace in a season of life that has every possibility of being dominated by fear, loneliness, or regret. Alice Fryling has created a resource to offer support as we address the questions and realities of aging in light of eternal values.

Two books rooted in hard times. If you are experiencing loneliness or grappling with challenges around the aging process, you will find hopeful and healing practices in #AgingFaithfully and #TheLonelinessEpidemic.

And One Last Thing…

Right now I’m offering two free gifts to NEW newsletter subscribers.

First, I’ve developed a free guided meditation to encourage you in a deep dive into the truth of Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” I’ve found that the surest antidote for the poison of the lies we tell ourselves is LARGE doses of truth, and I’m committed to the process of helping women to become confident Christ-followers and students of God’s Word.

Second, if you are a bookish individual, perhaps you’d appreciate some help in writing book reviews? I’ve created a resource sharing some tried and true tips that have come from writing hundreds of book reviews for Living Our Days and other sites. I have loved pointing my readers toward the good stuff that’s out there, and if that’s your goal, too, I want to help you.

Simply click on the button below to receive one or both of these free gifts…

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I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and an affiliate of The Joyful Life Magazine, two advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. If you should decide to purchase any of the books or products I’ve shared, simply click on the image, and you’ll be taken directly to the seller. If you decide to buy, I’ll make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Many thanks to NavPress and Brazos Press for providing copies of these books to facilitate my reviews, which are, of course, offered freely, and with honesty.

Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four sons, four daughters-in-love, and five adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

48 thoughts on “Don’t Wait Around for a Perfect Beginning–Start Today!”

  4. That loneliness book sounds itneresting. i do think the lockdowns really exacerbated it in our kids and young people. The people on frindges of big friendship groups suddenly realising they had no one calling or texting them.

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  8. I agree that we shouldn’t wait for the perfect time or the perfect method or the perfect schedule. Good enough is better than not at all! My memorization review schedule is far from perfect but a work-in-progress still keeps me from forgetting everything I’ve learned. 🙂

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  12. Yes, such a good reminder. “God meets our slightest movement in his direction with his massive mercy and his steadfast, never-giving-up love. He is a profligate distributor of new beginnings!” If we wait for the perfect time, it will never materialize.

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  13. Always enjoy your book recommendations, Michele, but I also enjoyed your exhortation to get started on those holy habits today! yes, ma’am, I’m on it!

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  15. I confess, I procrastinate way to often. Especially on those things God has called me to that I feel inadequate for. I’m pondering one of those things today. Thank you for this truth. This motivation. “God meets our slightest movement in his direction with his massive mercy and his steadfast, never-giving-up love. He is a profligate distributor of new beginnings!”

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  16. I love this wordsmithing: ” “intently haphazard,” sort of a hen house built in a windstorm.” I started the Chronological bible in a year, but I’m going from Revelation to Genesis – and savoring those chapters I rushed through when I read it through from beginning to end. When I get behind, I know to just keep on at whatever pace I can. No time is ever the perfect time to start!

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  18. This is an inspirational post.Yes,I agree. We have to start today instead of waiting for a perfect start.
    Thanks for such a motivational share.

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  21. I absolutely love this Michele – “Sometimes, though, we just have to go ahead and build the plane while we’re flying it.” This is SO true, and it made me grin from ear to ear. Because, this is how my writing goes. I don’t sit at a desk, looking out at a beautiful view in peace and quiet. I’m usually scribbling notes, or typing into my phone, on the go. If I didn’t, I’d never start… Thank you so much for joining us for #mischiefandmemories – have a lovely weekend.

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  22. Praise God for his compassion and grace! Our Heavenly Father is delighted with progress, not just perfection–just like human parents take joy in the small steps of progress of their children. (For this recovering perfectionist that’s easy to forget!) / I just looked up Psalm 46, Michele, to see if I’d like to memorize that one too. How appropriate it is for these times! Thank you for the recommendation.

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  24. Michele, this is so encouraging: “God meets our slightest movement in his direction with his massive mercy and his steadfast, never-giving-up love.” I get frustrated at my three-steps-forward-two-steps-back progress (or maybe it’s really two-steps-forward-three-steps-back). But every day is an opportunity for a fresh start, in any area, no matter how small it may seem. I’m so thankful for that.

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    1. Walking around in this truth changes everything for me. As much as I want to make progress in my sanctification process, I know that my desire is matched and exceeded by God’s desire and his massive enablement. May we both focus our desire on his will for us!

      Like

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