I've never been great at the whole New Years resolution thing. Some years I get excited about making them but then never do. One year I made the resolution to read the Bible in a year and actually stuck to it! Since then, between Christmas and New Years I consider a few resolution options and never commit to any of them!
Whether you make resolutions or not, there's something magical about New Years Day, isn't there? The idea of a fresh start is intoxicating! All of our hardships, failures, disappointments, pain, frustrations, fear, shortcomings, and unfulfilled dreams can literally be considered something we dealt with "last year". That's in the past and it's a New Year baby!
We get another chance at this thing called life! This year we will; eat better, exercise more, stop yelling, spend less, pray more, be more present, read the Bible, increase generosity, (insert yours here). All of those things are FANTASTIC goals! Goals to set and strive to reach!
But...
On January 1st I go to a dinner party and eat the dessert. By the end of the party I'm so annoyed with my kids that I yell at them to get in bed. I stayed up so late that I have exactly zero energy to exercise on January 2nd. And I want to see everyone's New Year's pictures so I spend far to long scrolling through Instagram. Two stinkin days in and I've broken all of my resolutions! "New Year, New You" goes right out the window and now I'm gonna have to wait until 2021! UGH!
Perhaps you have more discipline than me and can make it past day 2 of your new years resolutions. Props to you my friend! But I would venture to say that eventually you will indulge, yell, skip the workout, and spend more hours on social media that you care to admit. That's not me being pessimistic, it's me simply acknowledging that none of us are perfect! And, that dark chocolate is AMAZING!
So that's the bad news....but there's good news! You don't have to wait for a new year because every single morning is like starting fresh! Lamentations 3:22-23 says this, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Amen! Mercy is defined as, "compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm". This means that every single morning, for the rest of all time, God will show you and me mercy despite how bad we did the day before! Thank You Lord!
So if the God of the universe can show us such tremendous mercy with every single sunrise, why then can we not do the same for ourselves? Why are we so quick to throw in the towel on an entire year the minute we slip up? Or assume the whole year is shot with the first sign of hardship? We are so quick to punish ourselves but God is not!
God, in all of His wisdom, knows that we humans can't keep it perfectly together for an entire year! Shoot, we can't keep it together for an entire day! So He promises to renew our mercies over and over and over and over. I don't know about you, but I need to hear that over and over and over and over!
So as we reflect on the New Year before us, lets certainly consider the ways God is calling us to change. Caring for our mind, body, spirit, and relationships are definitely goal worthy. But let's remember that a new calendar year isn't the only opportunity for a new start...
God's mercies are new EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING!
I'm just sayin...
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