For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope
Jeremiah 29:11
I am sure many track and field enthusiasts can attest to the agonizing experience at least once, of seeing your favourite athlete being disqualified from a race, for a false start. However, that feeling does not compare to that of the athlete. It’s hard to imagine walking away from a race you have been been preparing for all your life. Yet, in our own ordinary daily lives, many of us are faced with the prospect of walking away from things that initially seemed right for us. It is after coming to a crossroad that we begin to contemplate whether what we thought was an actual race was a false start…
What’s the big deal?
A false start can be viewed as an unsuccessful attempt to begin something. I am sure that we all have experienced this or we are now experiencing it. There is a crazy thought concerning false starts in life. Sometimes we believe that we are doing well and that everything is going according to plan. Doubts may assail us, but we figure it’s the devil trying to get us off track! However, along the way things starts happening may suggest to us that we are not on the right track and that really this is not even our race. We discover that we had entered the wrong race; all out energy effort and talent had been focused on the wrong event. It was a false start. Now we are back at the dreaded, square one.
What do we do?
When we realise that what we having been chasing was not ours to chase, what do we do? Do we stop right there and give up, do we pursue the path that is not ours, and continue to struggle? Or, do we take the brave yet difficult decision to start once more on the path that will lead to a peace of mind and a measure of success? It’s never easy to count up our mistakes, but it’s necessary to use them as teaching moments that lead to a much more rewarding life. False starts can be a blessing from God, if we choose to look at them as such. A false start, in any or all areas of your life can make you mentally tough, more patient, compassionate and considerate. when we are given a second chance after a false start, we need to ensure and be intentional about never make the same mistake.
But still be careful what you think…
Sometimes when we think we have made a false start, we need to ask, how rewarding have our lives been thus far. Because sometimes when we think we have made a mistake, it is something that we were destined to do. Some persons may feel that they are in the wrong profession or in the wrong relationships. But how do we know whether we are right about this? We need to assess how much we have grown and gained by being where we are. If you have gained some measure of success, happiness and contentment then maybe that is where your passion lies and where you belong. Before we make the mistake of letting go we need to make sure that we check in with God to know whether or not we had made the right start.
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