When New Mercies are Needed
In addition to being a genius, Thomas Edison (most famously known as the inventor of the light bulb), was often described as an extreme optimist. In his late sixties he was in a season of enjoying his dream lab in New Jersey, which he built himself. Edison's great lab was enormous, greater than three football fields, and consisting of a total of fourteen buildings. In this dream lab, Mr. Edison and his staff conceived inventions, developed prototypes, manufactured products, and shipped them to their customers. After many, many years of hard work, he was in heaven. This little “city” became a model for modern research and manufacturing.
Edison loved his lab. But on a cold December day in 1914, his beloved lab caught fire. As he stood outside, watching it burn to the ground, his children surrounding him, he said, “Kids, go get your mother. She’ll never see another fire like this one!” Are you serious, Mr. Edison? My goodness, that’s living in a state of optimism! I think you're my new hero!
The loss of such a precious and prized workplace, representing many, many years of hard work, research and funds, would have certainly crushed most people. But not Edison. He said of this tragedy, “I am 67, but not too old to make a fresh start. I’ve been through a lot of things like this.” He rebuilt his lab, and continued to work for another 17 years, embracing the challenge and flourishing in the process.
It can be extraordinarily difficult to be positive in the midst of challenging circumstances. Life can seem to take every bit of positivity out of you when things keep going wrong. It can seem as if everything you’ve worked or hoped for is literally on fire, even burning to the ground, resulting in smoldering ashes. We can feel like we’ve run out of “fresh starts,” and there’s no other option but to throw our hands up in surrender.
I know I’ve been here many times. I can feel like I’m too tired, too old, or just too sick of trying and not seeing results. However, Lamentations 3:22-23 (The Message) tells us “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, His merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great is Your faithfulness!”
We have great and solid reason to be optimistic. God is always ready to hand us a “fresh start.” He never runs out. He isn’t keeping score of how many fresh starts we’ve taken, becoming exasperated with us as our tally runs up. His mercies are new EVERY morning. His faithfulness is greater than we could ever imagine.
If we look hard enough, through the blazing fire, we can always see that if we give our Lord opportunity, He will be at work, giving us reason to be optimistic. We just need to be a little patient or perhaps look a little deeper to see what He’s up to. Sometimes this is difficult, when the fire is roaring and seemingly consuming all that we love. But remember, just like Thomas Edison, we are never too old to make a fresh start. It’s never too late. His new mercies will never run out. In fact, they are new every morning. Great is our God’s faithfulness.
Something to think about.
Much love,
Cammie
