Beginning to write is not like riding a bike. That is, starting up again isn’t always easy, and it’s filled with stumbling efforts. This isn’t my real beginning, either. I’ve had the fortune of writing with pen and paper in journals since I was little, and then eventually switching back and forth between paper and the computer.

So while I might be starting this blog, this really is a continuation of the writing I already do. Except, well, more public. I worry that this blog may be like the written form of when I check my teeth in the self-faced camera on my cell phone, and look up to find someone watching.

But I suppose that’s just life, isn’t it? We do our best to hide our human nature – our anxiety, our wild hair, the spinach between our teeth – and for what? To make a good first impression. Because that’s what counts, right? That’s what we’re told, especially when you’re a twenty-something like me and needing to find a job, make the cut, or get into that shiny new program. We create new beginnings. We invent a fresh start with every new handshake and carefully-practiced smile.

Make no mistake, this is no carefully-practiced smile. I’ve never liked practicing the same thing over and over. This is a guffaw in the face of “starting over” and “new beginnings”. I’m a boulder rolling down a hill. I can change course, I can pick up speed, but I can’t roll back up the hill. I’m not beginning; I am merely continuing.

P.S.

This post was transferred over from a previous blog of mine; I thought it made a good introduction to this blog I have now. Joyful for Jesus is a place for these words to start fresh and anew, just as we become when Jesus lives in us. I hope you enjoy your time here. God bless.