Go To The Beginning

It has long been a light-hearted joke in my close family that I don’t have a neck. Now don’t get all judgy. It’s in good fun, and I often fan the flames. This was a natural path given that my Mom always said that when I was born, I reminded her of a football player – all shoulders and no neck.

Why am I publicly sharing such a ridiculous personal anecdote? Because it occurred to me recently while looking back at my life that we were focused on the wrong part of that silly metaphorical equation. It’s not that I don’t have a neck. I have big shoulders.

I was having some quiet time with God last week and specifically praying about my purpose and going forward in a new year. God told me to “go to the beginning.” Well, that was direct but what does it mean? I opened my Bible and went to Genesis 1. I’ve read it countless times in my life but okay. I read it. I reread it. I read it a third time and sat in the quiet, waited and listened. Then it struck me.

God gave us everything we needed at the very beginning of creation. He provided what we need today in those first seven. Whatever else was going to happen in the thousands of years that followed, we were going to need light and dark, food and water, companionship, and rest. In the beginning, He gave us the corner pieces of the puzzle.

Thinking about that took me to my own beginning. I couldn’t have known it as a child. My mom probably didn’t dwell on it either, but as it turns out, a good portion of my life has needed big shoulders. God knew before my own creation in 1976 what I would need to shoulder 30 and 40 years down the road. I want to say that I haven’t needed big shoulders all my life, but I suppose it’s like the rest of growing up, it’s usually to scale.

I think of how many times in my life I was the only one or the first one. I distinctly remember being the only girl on a Little League Baseball Allstar team and being picked on by many of my teammates. I use that example only for scale. It requires a child-size version of big shoulders to choose a path that’s not worn down. Years later I left home to go to college and knew exactly no one. I was on my own yet again.

Versions of that same story have played out over and over in my life. I was once a young, female sportswriter on a staff of all men. Shocker. Having lost both parents on the earlier side of adult life meant that when I looked around for my friends who might understand my feelings, they weren’t there yet. God knew what He was going to ask of me and just what skills (and size of shoulders) I would need to accomplish it. This is hardly exclusive to me.

Friend, He knows what you need, too. That situation you’re in right now, the crossroads you’re at, the struggles you continue to battle, the purpose your questioning, the people you have a heart for, the direction you’re debating, the same shape-shifting problem that has dogged you since childhood – He knows. You already have what you need to handle it.

Here’s what I want you to know, what I want all of us to know, go to the beginning. Go to your beginning. Look at your talents and skills. Look at your earliest interests. Look at who you were before the world told you who to be. Follow that thread, friends, from your very beginning straight through to eternity.

We need Jesus. And we need what God gave us in the beginning. He didn’t give you a box of assorted pieces. He gave you then what you need now to do exactly what He’s asking of you. If you’re unsure of what He’s asking, look at what He gave you. The pieces of your puzzle fit together. He didn’t make any mistakes.

Be encouraged by Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6 (NKJV), “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Take a look back at your beginning and then go forward with confidence. You are equipped for this day.