This Is The Day...

This is a day that we look at as a starting point in our year, a new beginning. It is a time of separation on the calendar, when previous cycles have ended and a new one begins, a time of closures and fresh starts. A new tax year starts, a new school semester begins, new laws take effect, many institutes and processes make this a dividing point between the old and the new.

This is something we can do, as well, in our personal lives. We can leave old things buried, closed, dropped behind us and move forward in the freshness of a new beginning. We can close out old records, not only financial records, but also personal records of hurts, resentments, grudges, records of what is owed to or by whom, and for what. 

We can give grace to others, since we have been given grace, undeserved favor and benefit, by God. We have not earned the love, the life, the light, the laughter, that God has made available to us in such plentiful supply. God has given us today a rich and endless source of grace, enough to meet our needs and for us to share with those around, and this supply is renewed each day in abundance so we will never run short. 

We can give mercy to others by not giving what we feel they may have earned or deserve through what they have said or done to us or those we care about; this is possible because we have received mercy from God, and have not been given the punishment, or the sentence, or the judgment, that we have earned. Whatever others may have earned from us, our scorn, our shunning, our disdain, our rejection, their debt pales when compared to what our sin debt has earned from a holy and righteous God -- death, spiritual, and eternal. Jesus interceded for us, paid the debt freely and entirely, without reservation, and gave us enough grace to not only cancel the debt, but to elevate us to the status of family members, accepted in Him, the Beloved of God. We've received enough to allow us to spare whatever it takes to compensate for anything others have done to us.

Make each day one of preparation. Start the day by turning to God for all He has for you. Find in His Word the strength to yield to the counsel and comfort of His Spirit rather than respond to the barbs of a critical spirit in a friend or a co-worker. Concentrate on conveying gratitude to God, and grace to those around, much as a saturated sponge will spill the water it is filled with when bumped. Have you ever seen a bruised sponge? When you are at rest in God's loving Spirit, you have the freedom and perspective to view those who have been critical or unloving or demanding in a new light, one which is shed by God's love. You will not be able to change them or control what they do and say, but you will be able to show them something different from what they have received before.

Ask God for a new start for yourself, today, and each day after. By doing this, you will be opening the door for others to find a new start for themselves.

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers

Walk rather in the counsel of the Word of God, stand in His presence, and sit in the company of believers who love the Lord.

Psalm 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

A daily full supply of the water of the Word fills you with life and causes the fruit of righteousness to grow in your life. Walk with God, and He walks with you.

Psalm 1:6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked will perish.

Let today be the first day of the rest of your life, the day the Lord has made, and rejoice in all He has given you.

Lord God of the now, the present, the moment, as You have us in Your thoughts, we place You foremost in our hearts and minds. Watch over us today, loving Lord, as we watch You to know what You want us to do. We give you thanks and praise for all You have done for us, and we gladly obey You as we show the love You give to others we know.

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