March 1, 2013 ~ It's a new day!

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
    great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Thoughts~

A lovely plant, Ornamental Purslane, is my favorite of all garden bloomers. When I was introduced to it in 1999 I was amazed by the way each colorful bud opened around 9 in the morning and closed around 5, never to reopen again. And yet, the next day, new blooms danced around my garden pots and flowerbeds. What a happy plant!

Like Purslane, we are given a fresh beginning each day.  We don’t need to haul around the junk from yesterday but can allow healing, forgiveness, loving and hopefulness to start off all of our mornings. Just like our morning cup of coffee or tea gets us going, our walk with the Lord can get us going too. He offers us a new beginning each morning: that is how much He loves us! What joy He has in store for us as we trust in Him!

Spending time with God every day makes mine so much better. I always spend some designated time with Him throughout the day, but not a particular, defined time. I used to . . . but life got in the way.

I forgot how much a first-in-the-morning time can be such a blessing; it carries me through the day. Because of extreme business with school, I let a morning quiet time slide into oblivion. Oh, and even Facebook, Cubits, emails and so much more internet time screamed for my attention but it didn't really affect my walk with the Lord like my morning time with the Lord does.

One day recently, God used my computer to draw me back to my closeness to Him in the morning. I had to reconfigure the C drive (or something that my computer guy told me to do) and could not access anything for some time. So I sat on my couch and spent time with the Lord, reading, praying and savoring what I had missed: first of the morning time! It brought a sweet awareness to my soul that spending this quiet morning time with Him is better than any status updates and emails.

Action~

Remind yourself every morning as you wake up, even before you hop (or crawl) out of bed, that it is a new day and the Lord has compassion on your life and has new things in store for you. Leave the past behind: today is a brand new day!

Think about using some time, maybe even 15 minutes, to simply spend it with the Lord, reading Proverbs or Psalms, a book from the New Testament. Whatever you feel like readying. And maybe add a devotional book after your Bible reading that encourages you in your faith. I read Don Moen’s “My Heart for His Glory” in the morning, Chuck Swindoll’s “Bedtime Blessings” and Ann Voskamp’s “One Thousand Gifts” at night.

Pray ~

Oh Lord, I love knowing that You give me a brand new day every single morning. Thank You for new beginnings and help me to use them wisely.

Joyfully trusting in Him,

Becky