Beginnings

“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.”
Acts 1:1, 2 ESV
The phrase, “…began to do…” is often overlooked in reading this section of Scripture, but it points out how the work of Jesus is unfinished until He returns. He has come and completed redemption, but the Kingdom is yet to be established, the creation not yet remade into the perfection it knew before the fall, but He will! What He has begun, He will complete. In Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, he spoke to this;
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 ESV
Beginnings are important; we all have times we have first done something, from our first breath as infants to the first day in school, our first job, all are beginnings and lead us on in this journey called life. How many times though have we begun something and left it incomplete? My first marriage is one beginning that was left incomplete as well as what I’d hoped to be a career in the Navy and then as a nurse and paramedic. Different times in my life and reasons for those beginnings being left on the side of the road in my journey, but each beginning did teach me something even if it resulted in failure.
These failures taught me that I am not complete, that I need others to be complete. John Donne’s Meditation XVII illustrates this well;
“No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”
Community is a vital part of our journey and it is only in community that we can be complete. The sharing of experiences enables us to learn as well as teach and can bring us closer to completion of the person we are meant to be. It is not financial success or career achievements that bring completion, but in our becoming an integral part of something bigger than ourselves.
As I am beginning what I hope to be a career in real estate, I can’t help but look back to the times I’ve failed at other such endeavors. The breadth of new material that my brain has taken in (and will hopefully remember for the state exam) is beyond what I’d expected and speaking with those who have been working in the field for some time is somewhat intimidating, but they too had a beginning. This beginning, as all others, can lead me closer to the person God intended Tony to be; the Author of life continues to fashion me and, as Paul indicated in Philippians, I am comforted that the work He is doing will go on until I am Home. Yes, parts of this journey have been distressful, but through it all He is there and He has given me a community of friends and a beloved wife with who I share the journey.