Thursday, January 01, 2009
January 2009 - Happy New Day After Day After Day!
Scripture Readings:
Lamentations 3: 22-23 - "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness."
Romans 6:4b - "that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
I always feel that I should begin my first journal entry of the new year with something profound: something that will motivate, stir, or challenge. After all, it is a new page on which to record the lived moments and events of life. Doesn't it deserve to be "special"?
Devotional Reading:
We note the demarkation between one year's demise and another's birth by the hands on a clock, the dropping of a ball in Times Square, the singing of "Auld Lang Syne" - artificial markers all. For time is fluid. Things carry over from one year into the next regardless of the change of day and date. Wars continue, problems aren't solved overnight, pain and sorrow aren't assuaged simply by the flipping of a calendar page. They travel with us, along with all our other baggage, into the new year, sullying it before it has barely begun.
We make and break the same resolutions we made and broke last year -- and the year before that -- and the year before that! Yet, the idea of a NEW year, a FRESH beginning, persists. We hope THIS year will be better, that THIS year wars WILL end, loved ones will draw closer together, the sick will recover, depression will lift, good will conquer evil.
No matter what happens, we can rejoice in one promise that is NEVER broken -- that God's mercies are new every morning. Each morning He provides us with a fresh start to fellowship with Him, to study His Word and ways, to share His love with those around us. And each night, when we confess our sins and failures, with love and mercy He wipes the slate clean, lets us renew ourselves in sleep, and awakens us to a fresh start, another chance to get it right.
We don't need parties, noisemakers, paper hats, dropping balls, or a countdown to give us a new beginning. With the fanfare of a glorious sunrise, God gives us a fresh start each day. And, by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God has made us a new creature, and that beats a new year any day.
Prayer: Father, thank You for Your unending mercy, compassion, and love. Thank You for forgiving me my persistent shortcomings and failures, for Your faith in me, and for giving me the faith to believe in and to trust You. Help me to awaken each day to the possibilities You've given me, to be mindful of the work You may have for me to do, and the people You may want me to reach out to. Help me not to be discouraged in well-doing, but to leave the outcome of all things in Your hands, knowing and believing that You will work all things out for good, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Optional Growth and Enrichment Activities:
Research: Use a dictionary to look up the various meanings of the word "mercy." Then do a word search in your concordance and study the verses in which the words "mercy," "mercies," and "merciful" occur.
Reflect: In your journal, write down the times you have experienced mercy either from God or from another person. Next, write down the times you have shown mercy to others. Meditate on God's great mercy toward you.
Reach out: Do you know of someone who needs mercy now: a relative or friend who has wronged you or treated you unfairly: an unwed mother, a rebellious teenager, the poor and homeless? Remember, mercy is undeserved by the recipient. How can you show mercy to those with whom you come in contact on a daily basis, including the members of your immediate family? Jot down some ideas in your journal.
We note the demarkation between one year's demise and another's birth by the hands on a clock, the dropping of a ball in Times Square, the singing of "Auld Lang Syne" - artificial markers all. For time is fluid. Things carry over from one year into the next regardless of the change of day and date. Wars continue, problems aren't solved overnight, pain and sorrow aren't assuaged simply by the flipping of a calendar page. They travel with us, along with all our other baggage, into the new year, sullying it before it has barely begun.
We make and break the same resolutions we made and broke last year -- and the year before that -- and the year before that! Yet, the idea of a NEW year, a FRESH beginning, persists. We hope THIS year will be better, that THIS year wars WILL end, loved ones will draw closer together, the sick will recover, depression will lift, good will conquer evil.
No matter what happens, we can rejoice in one promise that is NEVER broken -- that God's mercies are new every morning. Each morning He provides us with a fresh start to fellowship with Him, to study His Word and ways, to share His love with those around us. And each night, when we confess our sins and failures, with love and mercy He wipes the slate clean, lets us renew ourselves in sleep, and awakens us to a fresh start, another chance to get it right.
We don't need parties, noisemakers, paper hats, dropping balls, or a countdown to give us a new beginning. With the fanfare of a glorious sunrise, God gives us a fresh start each day. And, by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God has made us a new creature, and that beats a new year any day.
Prayer: Father, thank You for Your unending mercy, compassion, and love. Thank You for forgiving me my persistent shortcomings and failures, for Your faith in me, and for giving me the faith to believe in and to trust You. Help me to awaken each day to the possibilities You've given me, to be mindful of the work You may have for me to do, and the people You may want me to reach out to. Help me not to be discouraged in well-doing, but to leave the outcome of all things in Your hands, knowing and believing that You will work all things out for good, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Optional Growth and Enrichment Activities:
Research: Use a dictionary to look up the various meanings of the word "mercy." Then do a word search in your concordance and study the verses in which the words "mercy," "mercies," and "merciful" occur.
Reflect: In your journal, write down the times you have experienced mercy either from God or from another person. Next, write down the times you have shown mercy to others. Meditate on God's great mercy toward you.
Reach out: Do you know of someone who needs mercy now: a relative or friend who has wronged you or treated you unfairly: an unwed mother, a rebellious teenager, the poor and homeless? Remember, mercy is undeserved by the recipient. How can you show mercy to those with whom you come in contact on a daily basis, including the members of your immediate family? Jot down some ideas in your journal.
# posted by Donna B. Russell @ 6:33 PM 
