notesbynora

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning.” — Lamentations 3:22–23

Sometimes we get off track. I miss a day, then another. Something I intended to do gets pushed aside because life gets busy, somebody needs us, circumstances change — or I simply get tired and admit, “I will do it later.”

My foster son asked me seven times yesterday to throw the baseball with him. I kept responding, “You got it, buddy. Let me finish this and we’ll do it.” By 9:00p.m., he had stopped asking and it was dark. I told him how sorry I was that we did not get to throw. He smiled and answered, “We can tomorrow!”

There are days when I don’t know if it will happen tomorrow. I start thinking about how far behind I am in my job, writing books, and the demands from others, which seem to pile higher and higher, and of course, I want to exercise and eat right, dress right, and fix my hair. Before long, the overwhelming resolve creeps in to ring loud and clear, “I just can’t do this.”

But this morning, I was reminded of something wonderfully simple:

God is not asking me to go backward and fix yesterday –  He is giving me today.

There is so much grace in that. I have a tendency to believe that starting over requires some grand moment: a Monday, a new month, a new year, or a perfectly organized plan.

God tells us that His mercies are new every morning.  Which makes it very clear, not every January or Birthday but every morning. There is such comfort in that. 

Maybe there is something you’ve let slip. Maybe it’s prayer or time in God’s Word. Maybe it’s taking care of yourself, reaching out to someone you love, going back to church, or pursuing something God placed on your heart a long time ago.

Don’t spend another moment beating yourself up over yesterday – just begin again. Pick up your Bible. Say the prayer. Make the phone call. Take the walk. Write the first sentence. Do the next right thing.

God has always been in the business of new beginnings. He doesn’t need our lives to be perfectly organized before He can work in them. He simply asks us to come as we are. 

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts of faith is knowing that as long as God gives us another morning, He has given us another opportunity to begin again.

Today is enough and it began with a baseball, two gloves, a little laughter, and happy young boy who just wants to be a professional player one day.

— Nora