The Book of Genesis in the Christian Bible begins with these words: “In the beginning, when God created the universe…” The Gospel according to John begins: “In the beginning the Word already existed…” (Good News Bible1992).  

So, where do I begin if I don’t know where the beginning actually begins?   It sounds like a question for a philosophy class or the question asked of some really wise guy looking to get out of something.   Whatever the reason for the question, the question that comes to mind is whether or not I need to know where the beginning of something is in order to begin.

            Students are taught that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark.   So whenever we read something, we recognize a new thought, that is, a new sentence, when we see a capital letter following a punctuation mark.   But if only all things in life were as simple as knowing when a sentence started and ended.

            In our lives we encounter situations that require us to have some prior knowledge or enough information to understand its origin. Fundamentally we need to know when and where it started.  

            Have you every wondered where the beginning of a doughnut was or the beginning of any closed object?   The beginning would be where you decide it should be.   Think about it.   If I decide that the beginning or top of an egg was at the smaller end, then that is where it is.   You may decide that the beginning or top is at the larger end.

            The point is that wherever you decide the egg begins, the fact is that there is a beginning to everything.   Humans have argued for centuries about the beginning of our humanity.   An argument, in my opinion, that is totally futile.   The focus should never really have been on when we got here or even how we got here.  

            We are here. Whether we believe in evolution or the Christian creation story does not really matter at this point.   What is important is for humans to figure out how to survive in the world that we have slowly destroyed over the centuries, and how to continue to make new beginnings for ourselves as the need arises.

              So while my beginning may be different from your beginning in terms of time and sequence, my beginning will be at that time and space that I commence.   So perhaps it is not so much about where something begins or even how it begins.   The bottom line is that we just need to begin.

            Many of us are guilty of being procrastinators.   Some of us take forever to just make that first step.   We dilly dally about the place making excuse after excuse for not doing something, eventually never beginning, thus remaining in the same predicament month after month or even year after year.

            We will be moving into a new year in a few weeks and many people promise to begin lots of things.   Don’t become a statistic in the new year by not beginning that something that will make you be a better you.   To rephrase Nike, just begin someplace.   Don’t worry about where the beginning is or how to get to the beginning.   Wherever you jump in will be your beginning.