N.B.

By Belinda

While the initials N.B. don't denote new beginnings, they apply well to the topic New Beginnings. Nota Bene--"note well"--pay attention to! Okay, they could also stand for New Brunswick--but not here. :)

"Pay attention to" the importance of new beginnings, because this is the stuff the universe is made of.

New things carry a special magic. Who has not slept with a pair of brand new shoes beside her bed? They might have been perfect shiny black patent leather pointed toed high heels, or white leather strapped sandals (oh, I can smell that white polish that came in a tube with a sponge on the end which you dabbed all over the shoes;) or even the sensible leather school sandals always bought big enough to grow into that smelled just like the shoe shop, all leathery and new. I love the smell of shoe shops. Why did we keep our new shoes beside our bed, sometimes still carefully wrapped in white tissue paper in a shoe box? There was comfort in knowing that they were near us in the night, still waiting for  us in the morning, their newness to be enjoyed a little longer.

The shoes I bought for Brenda's recent wedding--racy red, did not reside beside my bed--but they were in the bedroom closet, and I visited them frequently before the day they were worn, just to admire and enjoy them!

New school books, new journals--these things also have magic dust sprinkled on them. They hold the possibility of things we cannot put into words. I have a drawer in which I have a stash of unused journals given to me by friends on various occasions. Whenever I open the drawer I touch them, look at them and look forward to the time when their turn comes to be opened and written in. I derive pleasure from them just being there, waiting--as I do from new books unread on my bookshelf.

And nature is nothing if not a kaleidoscope of new life, all of it with its own special beauty. The new blade of grass, slender, tender green, waving in the breeze of its first day, is a thing of wonder.  New buds; new leaves; baby lambs; adorable puppies; fluffy kittens; wobbly chicks; BABIES!!! All of these new to the world and the dew of heaven still on them, take my breath away.

But new "beginnings" are in their own category entirely; a privilege available to all of us every moment of every day as long as we are on this earth. As long as we can start over we have hope, and hope is an essential ingredient of a healthy mind and spirit.

It doesn't matter if we believe in New Years Resolutions or not, new beginnings have the same magic dust as all other things new. I'm into new beginnings as surely now as when I fell down again and again when learning to roller skate. It is in the getting up and trying again that we learn. We are down, but not out until we say so ourselves.

Each new beginning necessarily means an ending went before it, but a new beginning softens the sting and breathes new hope. It banishes the grave clothes and dazzles us with resurrection morning!

I thank God for new beginnings and second chances, for hope, forgiveness, rebirth, renewal--and one day, heaven. Nota bene!