Learning a new song

One forged ahead boldly with a single focus, nary a look back. As she passed by on her way to new destinations, she waved from the front of the line where she was introducing herself to her new teacher.  No surprise ~ her coat and backpack had been on the moment she finished breakfast, long before the rest of us were ready. 

The other had to warm up to the idea.  Upon waking, he'd declared, "Couldn't we start next week?  I'm not prepared!  I'm scared!"  Even when we joined his class awaiting the teacher's arrival in the lunchroom, he hung back just a bit ~ this was new and unknown, and by default in his young mind, new and unknown = scary.  Seeing a friend across the way brought a smile to his face.  And we laughed when we found out that not only does he share a first name with two other boys in his class, but that their last names begin with L, M, and N.  O is in the class across the hall.

Watching these two approach this new venture with such different styles made me think of the war within my own mind and heart when God calls me to a new & unknown path.  My first instinct is often to back away with a list of reasons why I'm not ready, or must surely not be the one.  I don't have to look far in the Bible to find others who struggled the same way.  But there's a part of me that wants to respond the way my daughter did this morning, the way the disciples did when Jesus called them off their boats ~ to set off with a single focus and embrace the new.

I realize that in this time of learning a new song, I too will need to choose how I respond.  Will I let the worrying side hold me back with my cries of  "But I'm not prepared?  I'm not ready!"   Or will I jump in fully to this new path, trusting that the same Lord who told his disciples,

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear . . .  So do not worry . . . But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  (selections from Matthew 6:25,31,33)

meant for those words to apply to me in my life today?  That keeping my focus fixed on Him will allow the rest to fall into place?