A Fresh Start

I have neglected to share some very important issues that have taken place in my personal life over the last few months. I was raised in a strict Greek home and "home" issues were always kept behind closed doors out of fearing that the people in the community may look down upon us. That is just one of the excess baggage things that I will probably keep with me forever. The important part is that we were always forgiven and loved no matter what happened.

As most parents do, I have been having some issues with my 16 year old daugher when it comes to defiancey and grades over the last few months. Looking back, it all began in October when my brother came home on hospice care and I was stretched very thin. Don't get me wrong, I am not beating myself up for it - it just happens that way, sometimes. Her grades were falling and no matter how hard we tried, we could see no improvement. We all felt hopeless. We threatened, we took the car and cell phone away, moved her downstairs - did everything but feed her under the door like a prisoner. Still....nothing! She asked about transferring to a private school and we just could not seem to manage an extra $410 a month tuition into the budget! We continued to play tug -o-war and finally, with the help of the high school administrator, we were referred to a small private academy that was willing to work with us and welcome our daughter with open arms. I really felt a sense of peace throughout that place as soon as I stepped foot on the grounds. After having "buyers remorse" this morning and praying that we had made the "right" decision, I came in to work to find the confirmation on my email that was sent to me by my new friend, Sharon.

Beth Moore, who wrote his article, talked about doing some cleaning in her child's room and she spoke about how her child's high school career was filled with scholastic backsliding. Beth gave thought to children and how they have to know that when they stumble and fall, as adults do, they can make a clean start. Whether we feel we've failed ourselves, or others, we all have a head-on collision with varying degrees of it throughout our lives. We can view failure as an opportunity to develop a necessary life skill. After all, we'd be worse than failures without it. We'd be merciless egomaniacs. Failure is one of life's most powerful teachers. We will all sign up for its class at one time or another, but we can each decide whether or not to pass the course. How we handle our failure to measure up determines whether we're simply going to "get by" in life or "press on."

I don't know much, but I know that everyone needs to be released from past mistakes. Life bulge's with burden of mistakes. Somewhere along the way, they've got to be able to lay down the old bag before they start collecting a new one. Double baggers are miserable people. Guilt heaped upon guilt becomes too much to bear. No doubt, people have to deal wisely with poor choices they make, but when it's over, it's got to be over.

My beautiful daughter will have her Fresh Start on Tuesday morning and when I close my eyes at night, I am thankful for the grace that we have been given by someone so powerful and amazing!