Do You Believe in Clean Slates?
The beginning of anything offers the promise of a clean slate. New year’s resolutions spring forth from the idea of starting anew. A new job, a new friendship, a first date, the first day of school, and the first day back at the gym provide the opportunity to start with a clean slate. Are they really clean slates though?
I believe we can’t fill these “clean slates” unless we consider all we have learned and experienced up to this point. Yes, new beginnings are motivating and fresh, but our new slate will look much like our old slate unless we learn from the past. What worked or didn’t work for us last year? How can we repeat that or eliminate that this year? Was there something that made us leave our old job in search for a new one? Why are we on a first date? Are we searching for something we didn’t have in our last relationship? Did we fall off the exercise wagon because we hated the type of workout we committed to?
Our new slates are an opportunity we wouldn’t have if not for the choices we made to get here, the life-changing ones as well as the many tiny ones that seemed insignificant at the time. From what gym we choose to the time of day we choose to work out. Coke or Diet Coke? Flat or sparkling water? College or Trade School? When we look back what do we see? We climbed mountains and faced storms. We also hid under the covers and ran from conflict. Some days we felt invincible and others we felt hopeless. Every moment of every day, every challenge we took on and every challenge we rejected. Every heartbreak and every moment that filled our heart with joy. All of it shaped us, filled our slate, and brought us to this very day…to this slate sitting before us. And yet, we didn’t get here alone.
Old slate or new, guess who was with you all the way? Don’t forget to fill your next clean slate with God. Imagine what it can look like! Inhale the possibilities and exhale the doubts. You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be today. Paint tomorrow with dreams but don’t throw away that old paintbrush just yet. It’s got some life still in it…yours.
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