New Beginnings Start Today
Everyone needs a new beginning….time and time again…if we are truly honest with ourselves. Taking risks in life means sometimes we succeed at the new challenge and sometimes we fail, but I think the most important thing is being willing and open to new opportunities. If we try and succeed we naturally have a “new beginning”, a fresh perspective, a new adventure before us. If we try something new and that new experience fails to meet our expectations, we are disappointed and sometimes discouraged. Mikvah is a ceremonial bath that throughout history has represented to the Jewish people a sign or tradition of “new beginnings”. Mikvah is how the Jewish people would spiritually cleanse themselves. They viewed it as a means to wash away anything unclean a purification of sorts that allowed them to start afresh with a clean slate. Mikvah for Jesus was a new beginning. After he was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, God said, “this is my Son in whom I am well pleased”. From there Jesus was lead into the wilderness where he spent time preparing for his “new beginning” right before He launched His ministry.
On my recent trip to Israel, we had an opportunity to be baptized in the Jordan River. I was baptized in the Pacific Ocean when we lived in Guam, in the early 1980s. It was a very significant time in my life and that decision made a huge impact on my life. I had not ever felt the need to be “re-baptized” so there was no personal draw on my heart to get baptized in the Jordan River. So when I learned the concept of Mikvah, as a ceremonial cleansing and a sign of “new beginnings”, that moved my heart and I was all in. We stood together as one woman after another in our Sisterhood Pilgrimage group was baptized (Mikvah). Strong Godly women spoke prayers of encouragement, love and hope over each woman as she came down to the water. For many this was a sweet time of cleansing and renewal. It felt like the spirit of God was saying over the women, “these are my beloved daughters in whom I am well pleased”.
We can move from death to life, from darkness to light, from old habits that bring us down to new beginnings that bring us life and love and strength. The old can be washed away and we can begin a fresh new clean-slate beginning. God wants to give each one of us a fresh start. That is why Jesus came. This experience was a wonderful reminder of the grace and mercy of God-a chance to begin again.
Do you need a new beginning?
