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Four score and . . .
I have a dream . . .
Ask not what your country . . .
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind . . .
Frankly, my dear . . .
You can't handle . . .
Two roads diverged in a yellow . . .

Undoubtedly you know several, if not all, of those phrases and you can pick up where the ". . ." leaves off. 

You and I are wired for words.  Words not only communicate, they insist on our attention. 

Three words (in English, at least) begin the first book of the inspired Text as well as the fourth record of the gospel of Jesus.

"In the beginning . . ."

Whether "God created" or "was the Word" follows the ". . ." those combinations of three insist on the reader giving attention that all things started for, in, and through one Being - namely,God.  The Triune God spoke, formed, and loved all things into existence.  From that mark, we calibrate our life compasses. 

When we do so, we discover, in the words of the anonymous poet, that

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.

Those words do more than play a song in my head worthy of Rocky Balboa's famous run up the stairs of the Philadelphia museum, they remind me to check my compass. 

When gray skies block out blue, do I remember the One before "In the beginning"? 
When bird song drowns out sad songs, do I remember to thank the One who set all things in motion?

Long before my beginning, the One from the beginning knew my steps, foresaw my pain, smiled at my joys that would become my experience, saw who would stand by my side, and set His plan in motion.  So, if my path fails to line up with "In the beginning" - I fail to walk the right direction.

You and I, like all before us, live in a time that is a mix of joy and jealousy, crime and celebration, destruction and determination, certainty and confusion, smiles and sin. 

We, longing for a Garden world, live in a Genesis 3 world.  We, therefore, face a weighty decision.  Will we calibrate off of --

"In the beginning"

If we will, we will find more ease in seeing raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens and, perhaps, even silver white winters that melt into springs for, indeed, these are a few of our favorite things.