New Beginnings

Each day we awake to something new.  I live in Central Texas.  I leave for work just before the sun starts to rise.  My commute through the countryside lasts about 35 minutes, and is unhindered by traffic, school buses, stop lights or stop signs.  There are hardly any houses to pass, it is mostly ranch land.  I have seen some really funny things on my way to work, and things that just make me shake my head and smile.  I have seen horses lying on their backs rolling in the dirt, the same way dogs do!  Yep, all four feet up in the air, bent at the knees, rolling back and forth scratching their backs!  I have seen goats in trees!  No lie, goats climb trees if the bottom branches are low enough.  I always heard that they will eat everything but the grass, and then when they have no other choice, they eat the grass.  I don’t know if that is true or not, but it looks like it may be possible.  I have watched cows.  Cows make me laugh.  You can see 14 cows all standing around looking at each other as if they were having a meeting, and then there will be the one cow who is either blind or did something really stupid because the herd (do cows herd?) has sent him away.  He will be standing all by himself staring at a tree trunk!  It just looks so funny!

And then there are the Central Texas sunrises!  I’ll tell you, there is nothing quite as beautiful as that!  If there are no clouds in the sky, there is usually a huge red sun rising.  It looks like it is so close you could touch it.  But then there are those mornings when the sky is turning light blue from the dark black it was just an hour before.  If there are clouds, the sun begins to shine through with the most beautiful glory you can imagine!  There is phosphorescence along the very edge of the cloud; and the clouds all around are turning pinkish orange.  Then there are shadows that are like filters in the sky!  The rays flash out in all directions as the light show reaches its climax. 

I have seen sunrises that were so beautiful I had to pull over and cry at the blessing they are for me.  If nothing else goes right that day, I know that God has promised me that He will be with me.  My ride is westerly, so I am forced to look back at the progress of the celestial rise.  I will look at people driving toward me, and they are lost in their music, on the phone, or have their visor down.  They are driving toward the most beautiful scenery of the day and they don’t even notice!  How can that be?  Why don’t they notice?  I feel sorry for them, they are missing out on all that God has for them.  He is seen in the most obvious places.  Look at the sunrise and you will see His majesty!  God does the most beautiful work!  And He does it for us!

This blog is about new beginnings.  I am at the beginning of the marketing stages of my first book, A Christmas I Remember.  It is both an exciting and (could be) intimidating time.  The book is written and is being produced, and now I to sell it!  Yes, my publisher gets copies to the stores that order it, and they contact the local papers and TV and all that, and they will set up appointments for me to do readings and signings, but ultimately the job of selling a book falls on the author.  I need to be seen and I need to do readings and signings.  If I don’t put out that effort, why would anyone buy it?

I'm sure I will have people who need to pay with credit or debit, and I don’t have a cash register or credit card machine, and I know I will have to keep track of things for taxes, etc..  God has told me to not despise small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10).  This is a little book, a children’s Christmas story about when I was a little girl and a snowstorm came and I didn’t know if Santa was going to be able to get to our house (the things little girls worry about on Christmas Eve).  I know that I am never supposed to say it is ‘just’ a children’s book, because it isn’t ‘just’ anything.  It is God’s book!  He brought it all to creation, first through my friend asking me to write something, then by answering my prayers with divine inspiration, then through another friend recognizing it as a book, then through my Christian publisher accepting it.  It is small, yes, and it is exactly what God had in mind to begin with.  And it will be a success because it has already taught me many things.

He has told me that I should revel in this time, to not be worried about those things I don’t know.  I should learn from the new beginnings and appreciate them.  Like the sunrise.    He loves me that much!  No flowers or chocolates, instead it’s sunrises that touch my heart and soul.

Newborn babies are new beginnings.  When they are just days old it doesn’t look like they are doing much.  Oh but they are!  Their little brains are being formed with new sounds, sights, touch, and so many things that they never knew.  Generally they just lie there and take it all in.  They are learning words, and music, and who people are.  But they don’t consciously think about that.  They are needy.  Someone else has to do everything for them or they won’t survive.  They must be resilient to constant change.   Eventually they will be old enough to do things on their own, thanks to the efforts of those that helped them get where they are. 

So this is where I am with my book.  He will send me those that know PayPal and taxes and cold sales and where the market is.  I won’t have to do these things all by myself, because as I said, this is His book, and He knows what He is doing.  This is all a lesson for me.  I have learned that He will give me strength, and courage, and that fear is not from Him.  He has my best intentions at heart, and He wants me to learn these things now, with a small book, because He will have so much more for me later.  I must revel in the new beginnings, because that is where you learn, that is where the beauty is, the start of the innocent life, or the beauty of the new day.  Sit back and learn, He tells me, I will take care of you.  And He has, and He does.

How I love my Lord!
© dft