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New Day

Have you ever had a bad day? I'll bet you just laughed. I have had a few lately. Yesterday started out a little harried, and then rapidly snowballed into "A Series of Unfortunate Events." From the outside, looking in, it's not nearly as catastrophic as we see it--all the blunders and stumbles that sprinkle unsavory seasoning on our days, as if we mistook the tin of paprika for cinnamon, and dusted it all over the top of our cappuccino....we get the first whiff of our error just before taking that first gulp, but we take the gulp anyway, and...yuck!!! The price of a momentary lapse of attention can be hard to swallow in worse ways than that!

"I should have stayed in bed this morning!!" becomes our internal battle cry. Oh, yes it does.

Imagine Mel Gibson, warpaint and all, sitting on his horse, as he rallies the troops for revolution in that epically memorable scene from BraveHeart. His horse, snorting, stomping and dancing as his rider tries to control him during the thrill of the moment, everyone ready to raise their swords and rush to certain death in defense of their common cause, hearts pounding, armor clanking, and then, the legendary William Wallace battle cry..."DEFEEEEEEEEEEEAT!"

No, that's not how it went, was it? But that's what we do to ourselves, all to easily. I know it's paradoxical, but when that attitude takes the place of what should be a victory chant to get us through the day, we defeat ourselves over and over. Don't do it again, today.

This week, someone I encountered told about how she most admired the grandmother who raised her. Grandma had a philosophy--every day is a new day. No matter how much trouble the children had gotten into the day before (which was duly punished, she assured us), each morning, she was happy and proud of them all over again. "That was yesterday," she said about their misbehavior, "Today is a new day!"

Give yourself a break like that. If God can forgive our most capital offenses, are we more entitled to hold a grudge against ourselves? In being our own worst critics, hating ourselves over using paprika instead of cinnamon, we beat ourselves out of all of life's savory moments. Don't let the things you did wrong yesterday cast a shadow over the opportunities to do something right today.

22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.  --Lamentations 3:23-24

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