Making a good beginning is very hard to do. Whether I'm writing a personal letter, an essay, or a sermon, getting the first few lines right causes me much anxiety. I love a good beginning.
Good beginnings catch our interest.
They set the mood. But most important, a good beginning may provide a framework for understanding all that follows. One of my favourite beginnings is Charles Dickens' in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. That's a fine way to begin a story set in the idealistic days of the great French revolution, an undertaking that held great promise for human equality and freedom but extracted an unspeakable toll in suffering due to human brutality. That's a fine way to begin a tale of two men, their lives, loves, and death in a most desperate and hopeful time.