A Blank Slate

A blank page. It all starts with a blank page, or a blank slate if you will.

I sit. I look at it. I randomly tap my fingers with the resulting ajdfa;djfalkdsjfa;dlsjf.  I take a sip of coffee. A blank page can be daunting. Not just blank, but lacking. To fill it with words is a task that sometimes overwhelms me. The ideas are there sometimes; it is the putting them down on paper that I get stuck at. Not because I can't put them together, but I don't want to put them together wrong. I don't want to be offensive when no offense was meant. I don't want to disappoint or not live up to even my own expectations.

I take a bite of eggs, scrambled with sausage, mushrooms, red peppers and olives.
I am easily distracted. That makes filling a blank page harder to do too. Heather needs picked up at the church after an overnight campout and Ryan wants to look at books detailing how to build a treehouse. I step away to do those important tasks. Yes, distracted. And my eggs are getting cold.

fdfskldfjkldjf;ljd. Okay. A New Year. 2015. A year with promise and possibility. A calendar that is relatively blank and here I am again, back to the blank. Not only is 2015 blank, but my every single day is. This is the time of year that all the stores target us to improve, to organize, to exercise, to eat better, move more and be " a better you!"

The thing is, I could have started all that on November 13th and I would already be a month and a half ahead of everyone else.

I found a verse this morning that I want to share. Here it is (the emphasis is my own):

Colossians 2:14-17
14 the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's Cross. 15 He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. 16 So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. 17 All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.

I could, and do, get caught up in the New Year hype. I want a new start, a fresh beginning. I get so tired of the baggage of the past that I carry; that baggage that times I do put down for a season, but it always seems to find me again.

What if I believed that my old arrest warrant was cancelled? That is was nailed to the cross with Jesus. Not only is my slate wiped clean, but I am stripped naked and exposed. God sees me for who I am and He loves me. Me.

Whew.

Kinda takes my breath away.

My slate is clean. The pressure that I feel "to do", "to be" needs to be overshadowed with "the substance of Christ." Ah, now that's a goal for 2015.

My paper is no longer blank. The words are there and I pray that in some way, you hear the message. Not my message, but God's. He loves you. Whew. Take a breath and just think about that.

Have a Blessed New Year Day!

Love,
Dianne