Firsts

Why is firsts accompanied with dread?  Maybe it’s because as I sit here and think the primary rhyming word of firsts that popped into my mind was “Worsts.”  We hear horrific tales of first dates as we sit around a dinner table with friends and laugh of the “Worst” first date experiences as we each try to top the last one.  We look back at the awkwardness of first days of a new school with butterflies in our stomach, first days in a new city with butterflies flying, and first days of a new job with butterflies still flapping.  The same blasted butterflies fluttering about nervously, except as we age, their wings just get a little grayer.  One would think that these butterflies would have eventually died off from all the carbonation that we drink.  But sadly, those little rascals keep us all rattled on our firsts no matter our age.

I wonder, maybe God planned it that way?  Maybe God created us with that human inner spirit of timidity.  When we are afraid we need a hero.  We need someone to run to when the boogie man is stirring in the closet.  We need a friend that we can sit down with at lunchtime and spill our guts with the mistakes we made before lunch.  We need that confidant that will tell us to lift up our heads and keep moving forward even when the hurdles seem too high.  We all need that on our first days when it seems like everything that can go wrong, does.

But the thing is, we with our finite human nature of flaws and imperfections can never truly overcome these feelings of insecurities and doubt on our own, we need that hero.  It says in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.”  You may think, is he contradicting himself when he just said maybe God created us with a human inner spirit of timidity, but just quote scripture that says God does not give us a spirit of timidity?  What I am meaning is when God created each and every one of us He purposely left something out that only He can fill.  Plumb sings, “There is a God-shaped hole in all of us, a hole that only He can fill.”  He can only fill us up with His power, love and self-discipline when we acknowledge we are missing it.  He will only anoint us with his power when we finally ask him for it.  He the hero that we need.  He is the hero that is always there.  He is the hero that will never leave.

When I’m relying on my own strength and knowledge to get me through my firsts, I may be able to make it through the day, but it may be rough.  But if I rely on the Creator for His strength, He will give me power that is undeniable.  When we seek Him first in our first moments, He will be faithful through those moments.  They may be hard, but Christ never said “Follow me and I will give you an easy life.”  No, He never said those words.  The only thing that He promised is that we would never go alone.

So, maybe God created us with that weakness so that we would lean a little more into Him in those first moments.  So, next time you face something new, a challenge, an obstacle, a crisis – where are you going to turn?  You don’t have to go through it alone.   And you were never meant too.

First doesn’t have to be a scary word.  It was never intended to be.  It’s all about perspective.  Those butterflies in your stomach could be swarming, not out of nervousness and anxiety, but out of excitement and happiness that you finally took that first step.  Give those butterflies a reason to flap their wings with joy.  What butterfly would like to live its entire life at the bottom of your stomach waiting for the moment to spread its wings and fly.  Go on.  Let ’em fly!

Peace Friends