Blank pages

We are off and running on another school year. Teachers are teaching, school support staff are supporting and students are studying!

What a blessing a new year brings. When I spoke to students at our first worship service on Monday morning I talked about the gift of blank pages.

When I was a young man in primary school I used to hate blank pages. Blank pages were something the teachers forced me to fill with endless words, sums and what not. As I was a very serious young student I often found myself staring at blank pages for some time as I often struggled to get started on my work. “If I am going to write something it must be perfect” I would say to myself.

It was a patient teacher indeed who taught me that a blank page was not a punishment or a problem – it is an opportunity to create something new, wonderful, beautiful, challenging or interesting. A blank page does not know what was written on other blank pages. It has no expectations of perfection. It provides a fresh start.

During the Christmas season we celebrated the birth of a man who would provide humanity with a fresh start and new opportunities. We rejoice in Christ’s gift of a blank page to us all.

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/amypalko/