It's Day One!

I love mornings. I know some of you are already groaning. But I love the promise that each new day gives us. We can start again.

It makes me smile that we make such a big day about January 1st because it is a new year. Yes, it is a new calendar year, but isn’t every day the beginning of a new year?

One of my all time favorite hymns and comes from a verse in the book of Lamentations. This also makes me smile because we believe that Lamentations was written by weepy Jeremiah. In fact the world Lamentations means "the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping:”. But even Jeremiah in the midst of his sorrow, reminds himself of a few things. Pay attention to the progression in this from utter despair to hope:

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

The hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness comes from this verse, but also the idea that every day is a new day — God’s compassions are NEW every morning.

To me this means several things:

1) We can change now. Today doesn’t have to be the same as yesterday. We can be a new person if we want to. We aren’t bound by past failures and we can form a new habit today.

2) Others can change too. We might not be able to make them change, but what if changing our own approach to them were to assist them in their change.

3) God is as faithful as the sun coming up. His love for us and for those around us is right there when we wake up.

4) I don’t have to drag yesterday into today. Whatever attitudes I had yesterday, or the day before, don’t have to define me. Today is a day full of opportunity to look at things in a new way.

As I was heading home last night from the bonfire where I took the pictures above, I heard the song that inspired this post, and I reminded myself that each and every day is the first day. I woke up this morning with a renewed hope and determination to stay positive because God’s compassion is new EVERY morning.

Enjoy today and remember …. it’s Day One of the best of your life!