Starting Over
But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
Jeremiah 18:4
It’s OK……
We are often afraid of what is on the other side. This fear has paralyzed us in many spheres of our lives. We remain stationery in a situation that often brings tears to our lives every day. As we go about living, we feel trapped, wanting to break free but because of fear we remained shackled.
We are sometimes afraid to leave a suppressing job, particularly when we have worked there for so many years. Where would I go? How would I be treated elsewhere? You rather tolerate the daily insults and condemnation from a supervisor because you do not want to throw away the number of years you have invested in a company. But is the ingestion of daily insults worth it, if your anxieties continue to build and make you ill? You realized that working in this environment did not turned out to be what you hoped. However, I tell you today that there is a sea of opportunities available to you that would give you peace. How do you expect to build a foundation of happiness when it is watered with sadness and disappointment? Do not turn down opportunities or turn your back on it because you are afraid of starting over.
Both men and women remain in abusive relationships because they are afraid of starting over. “Where would I go?”
“Who would love me?”
“Why waste all those years?”
Instead you rather swallow your tears in the night and decorate your smile in the day, knowing that your heart aches for a relationship that not only satisfies the need for companionship; but it satisfies the need to be genuinely happy. Genuine happiness is derived from a place of contentment; it is beyond explanation. The smile that you show reflects what you feel in your heart. Do not let your smile or laughter be the curtain that covers your tears. If you are in a relationship and you do not smile from within your heart, do not be afraid to start over.
Even in our spiritual or religious lives, we struggle. We see the goal, but the steps to get there are often broken. It is good to know that we have the support of others, but sometimes the support is not there. In the meantime, we try to fix others by convincing them that the path that you are leading them to is the right way. However, this can be draining. Often you would have to drop that extra weight which is keeping you back. Only you can start from the bottom and reach to the top. When you reach to the top many would want to emulate what you have achieved and stand alongside you in your success; they too would have to start from the bottom to reach the top.
If you are praying and somehow you are not getting the answer that you desire, it doesn’t mean that God isn’t hearing — but maybe God is trying to tell you to do it differently. He wants to bless you in so many ways; but often he cannot bless you in the current position that you are in. He would prefer to remove you from that situation so that you can flourish in another. The situation that you are currently in would only poison your efforts to succeed. In some cases, you maybe making one step forward and two steps back. We are often given the opportunities to forge ahead but we shut and lock our own doors by having doubts. I can tell you over and over to leave the situation, but you will not until you are ready. One day you will wake up and realize that this is not how you want to feel anymore and then you’ll be done.
Before even starting, people condemn themselves to failure by using limiting words. Life is a journey, and we have the power to choose the destination. Its either we choose to remain at the bottom of the mountain, unfilled, unsatisfied, frustrated and sadden by life’s circumstances. Or, we can choose to soar like an eagle over the mountain, selecting the best land to occupy.
There is a Caribbean adage people would say, “"Where am I going? I know the devil that I am with. I don’t know the devil I would get". Why would you even accept any devil in your life? Whether that person you consider to be a supervisor, spouse or anyone who suppresses you. I have never heard about a “good” devil. Words have power and if you continue to associate your living situation to things of the devil it will manifest. Speak life, not death.
Nothing is wrong with starting over. Nothing is wrong with remolding the clay. Do not remain in a limiting jar clouded by your tears. There are endless opportunities outside of the jar. Do not be afraid to start over.
It’s OK!
