The start of the new academic year got me thinking about new beginnings. New beginnings are excellent growth opportunities, but they can also be scary. Plunging yourself into the unknown and starting from scratch can be intimidating for adults; imagine how daunting it can be for your children. It is why it is crucial to let them know that new beginnings bring countless opportunities for them to be better, and it will help them show their ability to adapt to every situation.
When we are starting something new, we get full of excitement, and sometimes we can get a little bit anxious because we don't want to mess things up. We put so much pressure on ourselves that we want everything to be perfect. This desire to be perfect creates an irrational fear of failing. We should not fear failure because failure will always be part of our learning process. Both are intrinsically related; we learn something new every time we fail. Every failure brings us closer to the right way of doing things. Failure equips us; it empowers us to do it better. We have to adopt a new mindset towards failure and see every failure as a steppingstone that brings us closer to victory; and not as obstacles that paralyze us.
Proverbs 24:16 says, "The righteous may fall seven times but still get up, but the wicked will stumble into trouble." Yes, we may fail; and fall, but we have to shake off the dirt, heal our wounds and try it again. The real failure is when we stop trying or when we do not try at all. God is a God of opportunities, but it is in our hands to appreciate and take advantage of those opportunities. God loves to give us new beginnings, but we are the ones that have to make the most of them, and we should be aware not to make the same mistakes. It is vital to learn from our failures to get out of the vicious circle of repeating the same things again and again.
It is foolish to think that if we keep doing the same things, we will obtain different results. Sometimes we are so afraid to change that we keep making the same mistakes. We need to be willing to let God transform us and shape us. We need to let Him guide us on the right path. Yes, it is scary to hand over control, but God knows what is best for you. You will never make the most of a new beginning if you are not willing to surrender your fears and insecurities to the only one that can give you peace, our Lord and Savior, Jesus. He calms any storm and can transform any failure into a great victory.
Today, I invite you to cast all your fears upon God and receive reassurance that no matter what this new school year brings upon us, God will be by our side to guide us and help us. We just need to let Him do the work in our lives, be the best version of ourselves and walk with faith.
