Throughout the year, we present an article in the bulletin each week on a variety of topics, written by a member of our Parish staff on a rotating basis.
From the Coordinator of Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity
by Corey Shorter
Most of us embrace January as a new beginning. We create vision boards, with our goals, New Year’s Resolutions, and plans for the upcoming year. For example common New Year’s resolutions may consist of making better financial decisions, to read more books, or everyone’s favorite – to eat healthier and become more consistent in working out. We start off pumped and excited, with great intentions for the new goals and new challenges, but after a while, we sort of lose momentum. So what causes us to lose momentum? Slow results, busier work schedule, hardships, or unforeseen circumstances. These real life situations can really take a toll on us mentally, physically, and spiritually. Thus making our New Year’s goals extremely difficult, or almost impossible to accomplish. This can cause us to keep pushing our goals back farther and farther, so much that we don’t even have a desire to pursue them. Sometimes it’s best for us to hit the reset button and to Start Fresh.
One thing that is apparent is that we will go through different seasons in our lives. If we could associate the actual seasons we experience to the seasons of our lives, it would probably go like this… winter would be the challenging season (difficult to navigate through), while summer could be considered the intense season (hot and uncomfortable), fall would be the season that is a mix of both (not too hard to navigate through but not as intense as the summer), but when it comes to spring that is when things change. Spring has a lot going on – it’s a mix of rain, wind, cold temperatures in the morning, and hot temperatures at night. Especially in the St. Louis area, we could very well start the day off in a coat and end the day in some shorts. With that being said about this season, spring is special in its own way. Spring is often looked upon as the season of rebirth. The season of spring can go through quite a few changes, which can make it hard to adjust but it all works out in the end, when we see the beauty of new flowers, trees, birds chirping, and a bunch of other new and exciting things. That is the perfect example of starting fresh. It’s ok to hit the refresh button on our lives. Jesus encourages us to do so. This is supported by 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This scripture tell us to come to Christ and he will give us the fresh start we need.
In conclusion Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”. As long as we love God, any trying or difficult season we go through, he will sustain us. We all have an important role to play in life and it will all work out for God’s Purpose and his plan. This is supported by Jerimiah 29:11 which says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.