It is a new day

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. 

(Eleanor Roosevelt)

Yet there is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends. It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:21-26)

It is good BOTH to HOPE and WAIT QUIETLY. In the quietness of waiting, do you brim with hope and expectation? If you are relying upon the loving-kindness of God today, then I daresay you are filled with the best hope there is! It might be hard for us to understand God's compassion, but we don't have to fully understand it to appreciate it and thank him with a grateful heart. The Lord's mercies are new each and every day - dare I say they are new each and every moment of each and every day? There has never been even one time I have turned to him in quiet expectation for his mercy that I have not received it in abundance. How about you?

With the new day comes new strengths and new thoughts. Yesterday may have been a bit challenging but remember yesterday is in the past now - it need not give you challenges today. As new as this day is dawning upon us, so are God's mercies and his strength. With God's mercy comes his strength - we don't get one without the other. What does mercy do? It gives what was not earned or deserved - along with the strength to get up and start walking once again. We may have fallen, or just plain sat down in defeat, but today's new mercies put us on new footing and give us new 'stamina' for the day ahead.

Stop for a moment and ask God what new 'thought' he is placing within your mind and heart today. We don't do that often enough - we just think those things come into our minds all on their own sometimes, but God places new thoughts within us each and every day. Some will become the seed thoughts upon which we build bigger dreams and hopes. Others will be the ones we know to act upon right now - having received all we need in the way of his strength and protection to take those steps he is asking us to take. We might want to drag our feet a little, remembering the challenges of yesterday all too frequently, but when we finally realize we cannot change yesterday, we will be apt to use today's strength to put today's thoughts into action! Just sayin!

At the starting block again?

God gives a hand to those down on their luck, gives a fresh start to those ready to quit. (Psalm 145:14)

There are times we all feel like quitting, when all we want is a fresh start, but have absolutely no way of figuring out what a 'fresh start' would really look like. Many have heard the words of Vince Lombardi, "Winners don't quit and quitters don't win." Another quote goes something along the line, "Quitters are good losers." So, we keep plugging along, hoping not to be labeled as a quitter, yet desiring nothing less than a fresh start. I think God may look at us, realize our desire to quit, that insane desire for a fresh start where others say no fresh start is possible, and then somehow begins to meet this despondency with his provision of that 'fresh start' we all desire. Robert Ingersoll once said, "Happiness is not a reward - its a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment - its a result." There are indeed times when we think we will never be "happy" - but look at the quote again. It is called a "consequence" - an outcome of something we do, or perhaps don't do in life. Most of the time the best thing we can do is to make a "fresh start" with what we have been given. We take the pieces we have left, pick them (and ourselves) back up, and move forward in obedience. Thank goodness for the "fresh starts" we get in life! If it were not for these, where would we each be? I know you and I probably would not be chatting each day via this blog were it not for many a 'fresh start' in my life!

God GIVES a hand to those down on their luck. It is a extension of his grace that "turns the tide" for each of us. No amount of self-effort is the answer to really getting the "fresh start" - it is a matter of God GIVING us the fresh-start. Whenever we think of someone "down on their luck", life in shambles and chaos abounding, we think of an individual enduring a whole lot of suffering because a whole lot of bad things are happening to that individual, and perhaps even those in their lives that are reaping the side-effects of that chaos. Look at what Ingersoll said - Suffering is not a punishment! So, what is the intended result of suffering? We may not want to hear this, but often it is to make us open to receiving! 
God didn't want us to suffer, but we made wrong choices and the consequences are there. God uses the results of our suffering to open us afresh to his GIVING touch. We are probably the MOST open to his "giving" when we are experiencing our greatest sense of need - in our suffering! We need to embrace need as an opportunity for a fresh start - for our hearts, minds, and wills to be open to the fresh touch of God. Quitters don't win and winners don't quit. A valuable idiom indeed, yet flawed! Here's the flaw - winning often begins when we finally do quit! Sometimes we can be so wrapped up in the efforts of trying to NOT quit, missing the very point God wants us to see - we need to lay it down! Don't keep holding on - in letting go, we EMPTY our hands so they can be refilled with what God intends for them to be filled with! It is only empty hands which can be filled!

A fresh start actually begins with an end to what we have been doing. When we come to an "end", God stands ready to GIVE us a "start". Vince Lombardi also said, "The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have." Sometimes the best we can do with what we have is to lay it down - to let it go! When we finally yield it to God's touch, we find the very thing we possess may be the very thing which "possessed" us - consuming us in ways God never intended. This isn't the first post in recent weeks about laying down what we don't need to hold onto any longer - and I don't believe that is by mistake. God has a message for each of us - let it go - finally, completely, and with intention. Want a fresh start? It begins today by us emptying ourselves so we might be open to receive exactly what God intends to GIVE us in order to launch us into the "newness" of a fresh beginning. Just laying it down...

Coming and going....

I raise my eyes toward the mountains.  Where will my help come from?

2 

My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

3 

God won’t let your foot slip. Your protector won’t fall asleep on the job.

4 

No! Israel’s protector never sleeps or rests!

5 

The Lord is your protector; the Lord is your shade right beside you.

6 

The sun won’t strike you during the day; neither will the moon at night.

7 

The Lord will protect you from all evil; God will protect your very life.

8 

The Lord will protect you on your journeys—whether going or coming—

    from now until forever from now. 

(Psalm 121 CEB)

I once read something by a poet about closing one's eyes at night and all seems to become "dead" with the enclosure of darkness, but also of the tremendous miracle of opening one's eyes the next day to the newness of life where all seems to once again be reborn. It was kind of an amazing thought to consider our times of slumber as that which bring rebirth or newness in such a way - death to the old and life to the new, so to speak. We need this "slumber" at times in not just a physical sense. If we equate the closing of one's eyes as a chance to "reset" what it is we see, then every opportunity for a "closure" within one season of a relationship can be the "opening" of another one!

I read a post this morning from a friend who has moved away, so my only way of remaining connected with her over the miles is often in her posts. She was celebrating the beauty of roses - not so much because they were open and fragrant - but because of the gentleman who has won her heart! One door closed in order for another to open. One job ended in order for another to begin. One relationship brought pain, but another has opened up to the newness of joy once again for my friend. I was truly celebrating with her, as well!

Whether coming or going, God's eyes never shut on our lives. His tender mercies are new with each new day and even with each new breath! While this may sometimes go overlooked by us until we take time out of our busy lives, once we just "shut down" for a little while, we realize just how much God's restorative and keeping power have been at work in our lives. It may be in the realm of energies for the tasks at hand all the way to the restorative power of helping us be ready and rightly placed for new relationships. Regardless of "how" his mercies come into our lives - they are sufficient to meet all our needs and are evidence of his great care for his kids!

Our comings and our goings - both are in his care. Our beginnings and our endings - both are within his design when our lives are positioned to follow in his steps. Just sayin!

The same, but not the same

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."  (Heraclitus)  Ponder that one for a moment or two and you will likely see the wisdom in these words.  We often think the things we are going into (or through) are just like they were the last time we went into (or through) them.  Sometimes when you actually take the time to look closer you see what once was is now different - including you!  It might come as a shock to some, but "the same" is never really "the same" in life.  There is always going to be some type of difference - even when it comes to the stuff we think we have already learned!

Forever, O Eternal One, Your word stands in heaven, firm and resolute.  Your faithfulness endures to every generation; You founded the earth, and it remains.  (Psalm 119:89-90 VOICE)

There is something which never differs or changes from what we could call "time past" to all of  time into eternity - God's faithfulness.  Charles Stanley said, "Too many Christians have a commitment of convenience. They'll stay faithful as long as it's safe and doesn't involve risk, rejection, or criticism. Instead of standing alone in the face of challenge or temptation, they check to see which way their friends are going."  This also is a true statement worthy of consideration.  WE define faithfulness is so many different ways - but most often it comes with a misguided belief that faithfulness is revealed by everything being exactly the same each and every time we see or face it.

As Stanley says, faithfulness involves risk taking, the potential of rejection, and even a little criticism from others on occasion.  They don't understand or comprehend the magnitude of the actions we are taking based upon faith, nor do they fully grasp the idea that faithfulness on our part is really only possible because of faithfulness on God's part.  Our commitment to walk according to the truth revealed in God's word is only possible because of his faithfulness to us in and through that Word being revealed in us by his power and through his grace.

I agree with Stanley - safety isn't defined by everything being the same.  I think it is bolstered by knowing there is someone faithful standing behind each and every action we take.  Every step has the potential to help us see something we didn't see before, or to realize we have become something different than what we once were.  We may not realize it, but when we take the first look into the mirror of God's word, we see one image.  In returning to his word again, we might just see a different image.  His word didn't change - but what we perceived the next time around did!

I once heard it said that without darkness nothing is birthed, and without light nothing ever flowers or blooms.  No darkness is ever the same; no blossoming of new growth is quite like the last.  All are unique - yet they stem from something which appears the same.  Darkness gives way to light - that seems the same at first, but with each new dawn there is the potential of a new day and all it holds.  Buds on a plant promise the evidence of beauty and a fragrance unique to the plant from which it stems.  No two buds are the same - no fragrance quite identical.

We need the darkness to bring an appreciation of the light.  We need attachment to the place from which life comes forth in order to reveal the beauty of our growth in the fullest way. We might resist the darkness because it seems different than what we have been in before - but the potential of what comes out of that darkness as light begins to dawn is unique to the period of darkness we have endured.  Just sayin!

What's in a family?

If you haven't figured out by now, God's plan is for us to get into family relationship and learn to grow there.  Now, we have all kinds of family relationships, don't we?  For some, their own biologic family may be a little bit of a challenge because it is somewhat dysfunctional.  For others, their main "family" is that of the extended kind - those who are closest to them in kindred spirit, but not necessarily in a biologic sense.  God has one more "family" he focuses on a whole lot and this is the family he places us in to grow spiritually - the fellowship of others believers in Christ.  For some, this is found in their local church, while others may find this closeness in a small group or at a local support meeting.  Regardless of where we "find" this family relationship, it is important for our health and well-being as children of God.

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.  (Ephesians 3:14-19 MSG)

It is within "family" that we truly learn to relate to one another.  No other type of relationship demands so much of our effort than that of "family".  If you have a dysfunctional family, you know what I mean.  If you have a dysfunctional family, you may spend a great deal of effort trying to change some element of the dysfunction.  God's idea of how we move from dysfunction to close family relationships is a little different than we might think.  It is a myth to believe God works by "redesigning" or "remodeling" our dysfunction.  His main goal is not to "remodel", but to make new.  

Galations 2:20 tells us, "My old self has been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (NLT) God is all about making things new - not just making us some "fixer-upper" project.  We live an exchanged life, not just one which is fixed up.  So many times we focus on what needs to be fixed rather than asking God to make it new.  If you don't think there is a difference, try a little experiment.  Get a stale piece of bread.  You can wrap it in a moist paper towel, stick it in the microwave for a few seconds and "reinstill" a little moisture into the bread.  At best, you have moist stale bread!  It isn't fresh bread right from the oven, but rather "fixed up" bread!

Sometimes I think we focus on going to church, being part of a small group, or a member of a support group because we want a place to learn something new, but we don't shed the old when taking on the new.  The truth is, as long as we hold onto the dysfunction in any part of our "family" lives, we will always know dysfunction in some form or another.  It is in placing ourselves in those places where we might learn how to shed the unwanted dysfunction that we have the greatest opportunity to actually embrace the new as the way we come to relate within "family".

In God's economy, he puts his seed in us in the form of his Son's divine grace - not to "overgrow" our dysfunction, but to allow a brand new creation to blossom.  I am so glad God is not put off by the dysfunction of our lives.  In fact, he embraces us WITH that dysfunction!  In the connection of his embracing us exactly as we are, we come to a place of learning to relate to him exactly as we are.  To some, this is a strange concept because they cannot see approaching a holy God in their total dysfunction.  Truth is, he already embraced ALL that dysfunction when he put his hand on our lives in the first place.  If we think we have to "pretty up" our dysfunction so we can relate to him or within his family, we have a warped perception of how God's family works.

God's family is made up of a whole lot of dysfunctional people - just like you, just like me.  No one of us is without our dysfunctional moments or habits.  In his family, we have the ability to come "as we are" and are allowed the "space" to have his seeds of grace grow within until they come to a place of full maturity within us.  He doesn't just "pluck away" our dysfunction, but instead, he replaces it by his tender care with new growth and tender shoots of mercy.  The place he chooses to focus on this growth is in family.  To be outside of "family" is to be outside of the place of his purpose.  

So, the next time you complain about the dysfunction of one of your "families", remember this - God's purpose is to make new what our selfish sinfulness has made pretty dysfunctional.  It is as we "plant our feet solidly" within the family he places us within that we can begin to live exchanged lives.  It is there we learn what it truthfully means to love one another.  It is there we learn the value of stabilizing relationships.  It is there we come into contact with the hope of newness rather than the frustration of "fixed up" members.  Just sayin!

First steps to decluttering our lives

Have you ever stopped to consider how many times you actually make new beginnings in this life?  At the beginning of almost every new year, we make some type of new beginnings, only to see them fizzle out shortly after we make them.  At the beginning of each new day, we commit to something which we will struggle with remaining faithful to throughout the course of that day.  At the beginning of the new month, we resolve to stay on budget and not spend more than we plan on taking in this month in our paychecks.  We are constantly making new beginnings, aren't we?  Sometimes we make these new beginnings with stuff like finances, our weight, or the maintenance we will perform around the house.  At others, it is much deeper, like the time we will plan to spend with a significant other, or the discovery of what God has for us in his Word by daily study and meditation.  Regardless of the new beginnings, there is something in common among them all - US.  We are making those new beginnings - some because we want to, others because we have to, and still others because someone external to us is beckoning us to.

Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness. “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree.  “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think." (Isaiah 55:6-9 MSG)

We all "begin", but somewhere along the way, sometimes without even noticing why, we need course corrections.  Try as we might, we cannot plan for every unforeseeable event - there will be those which creep up on us, pop up out of nowhere, and generally just "happen" without us being able to plan for them.  New beginnings are just a way of us letting go of old stuff.  Yesterday, my daughter had a garage sale and we went over to just keep her company as she did the sale.  I thought of the importance of letting go of old stuff - things which do little more than clutter up our lives and make life a little "messier" than it really needs to be.  She was making a new beginning by parting with some of the "stuff" which cluttered her garage and attic space. Others were making new beginnings by getting those outgrown baby clothes, the coffee pot, and the fluorescent fixtures for their garage.  

New beginnings are just a way of us starting over.  It is kind of like a "reset" button in our lives.  We can clean the slate and start fresh again.  This is what course corrections do for us - they help us to clean the slate and to set a new course.  Some of us need to do this in our relationships with each other because we have let clutter just mount up in those spaces where we have neglected to keep things fresh and growing.  Others of us need to start again in the place of daily time with Jesus - because we have let things clutter the space we had once committed to him.  Regardless of the reason for the "clutter", we need to get rid of it and start again - freshness restored, space given, and focus redirected.

I am so glad for God's graces which are new every morning.  If you hadn't really thought about this, maybe it will do your heart some good to consider it.  God is really saying to us his graces come into our lives afresh each and every new day - not just to give us warm fuzzies, but to help us make new beginnings with him each day.  New beginnings are first steps - not steps taken up where we left off, but first and fresh steps.  Maybe this is why we struggle so much with our "new beginnings" being something which sets us correctly on course again - because we try to take up where we left off instead of recognizing we start with the first steps again.  Here's something to ponder:  How far can you really stray off-course in a day?  If you remember his mercies are new each new day, then you likely will not stray far before you recognize you need those new mercies to get you back on course to take those first steps again.  One neat thing about God - he doesn't count how many times we take the first steps over and over again - he only focuses on our current first steps!

Truth be told, we all need new beginnings.  We may not want to admit it, but in truth, we desperately desire them in so many areas of our lives.  When we become aware of needing a new beginning, the best plan is to stop long enough to let the clutter be removed.  It took my daughter a while to realize she could part with the baby stuff which had been amassing around the house.  She just wasn't ready to let go in hopes there might be a little girl somewhere along the way.  Truth is, the boys fill her days pretty much to overflowing, so I am not sure she really needs that little girl she hopes for! Besides, all the stuff she was holding onto was boy stuff - if a little girl was to come along, she'd have to get new stuff anyway!  We sometimes hold onto what is just not very realistic, don't we?  When we do, we just add clutter to our already very full lives.  

God's plan is for us to declutter lives - to take the steps toward a new beginning.  If we have to do this more than once, so be it.  His mercies are new every morning.  Don't get down on yourself - just take those first steps and let him do the rest.  His course corrections come as frequently as we need them.  Just sayin!

New and Near - you in?

Most of the time, we glance over words as we read text - mostly because our brains are good about picking them up, interpreting them quickly and then moving us onto the next ones.  We don't have to read each individual word to get the "gist" of what is often being said, but we may miss out on something if we don't!  This is why I insist on taking scripture "in context", rather than pulling out a verse or two and hanging my hat on it.  The "context" gives us the substance we'd otherwise just "glance over".  In the 5th chapter of the Second Letter to the Corinthian church, Paul lays out the basis of hope in Christ Jesus.  He begins the chapter with a discussion about a particular hope we all have: resurrection.  In fact, he goes so far as to proclaim we get new bodies!  I don't know about you, but having one free of aches and pains seems pretty awesome to me!  Then he reminds us we don't get to "see" this "transition" from our earthly to our heavenly bodies right now, but it is a hope which keeps us going.  Almost as if he needs to "bring us back down to earth", he transitions to the point of telling his readers to keep a solemn remembrance of having to one day give an account for our actions TODAY.  He pulls us back into the game, so to speak, by reminding us it is the here and now where we need to focus, because today has a purpose - we have been given this day by none other than God himself.  Then we come to the point of our passage this morning - this promise or hope of a new body, a resurrected spirit, beckons us to allow the work of God in our lives today - so we capitalize and enjoy the fresh start we have been given in the here and now.

Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!  (2 Corinthians 5:17 MSG)

Newness:  other than the former or old; having but lately come to a place, position, or status; having been brought into.  Newness of life - old gone, new life beckoning us to step out and take territory yet unclaimed in our lives.  This is the condition we find ourselves in today as believers in Christ Jesus.  Each new day is a chance to experience anew the goodness and fullness of God himself.  Our "N" List is really comprised of two character traits:  Newness and Nearness.  You see, it is only as we draw near that we experience fully the newness God intends.  Paul is reminding us it is the work of Christ to "bring us into" this newness he intends - it is not our own.  This is where we often get things all mixed up - we think it is our responsibility to get the "old man" dead and the "new man" perfectly alive in us.  Nope!  It is his work!  Our part is to yield to the hand which seeks to do the work of re-creating us.  

Nearness:  close enough to experience true intimacy; closely related to or connected.  If you have been a reader for any time at all, you have heard me speak frequently about "connection" - for connection determines the output we have in life.  If you buy a hose, but never connect it to the water faucet, what use is the hose.  You could use it as a "rope" of sorts, but it was not made to be a rope.  It was created to be a "conduit" of sorts - carrying something from point A to point B.  To use it any other way is to veer from "manufacturer's specifications" for the hose!  The same is true of us - we were made for connection with God.  To veer from this is to "void" the manufacturer's specifications for our lives!  Yet, we can have a hose fully connected to the faucet and still not have it function as it should - simply because the faucet is still in the "off" position!  Connection is only "valuable" when there is a free-flow!  So, just "knowing" God is not nearness - we might make the connection, but if we miss out on the "free-flow" of his grace, power, and purpose in our lives, we miss out on the whole purpose of the connection in the first place!

There are times when I hear people talking about needing a fresh start.  Their lives just haven't "added up" to what they hoped for when they set out on a particular path, or perhaps the path they are traveling has become a little stale.  This is part of growth - we want a new start at times because the old just hasn't "panned out" quite the way we hoped.  Most of the time it is not because the path was wrong, it just doesn't excite us and cause us to "dig deep" any longer.  So, we change jobs, find a new house, or even look for a new relationship.  What we fail to recognize is that "newness" is only cultivated when there is "nearness".  Accomplish the "nearness" part and the "newness" part will always be close behind!  James 4:8 reminds us to draw near to God and he will draw near to us.  The "nearness" gives us the connection - the newness is a result of the free flow of his grace into our hearts.  The conduit is the spirit of man, connected to the Spirit of God.  

So, rather than constantly flitting here and there looking for something to give us newness in life, we'd do well to draw near, becoming firmly attached to that which promises filling beyond our wildest dreams!  Just sayin!