New Day

   It’s all in the perspective, it’s a new day or it’s another day. The words are different, and the meanings are different as well. So, which is it? Technically, they are both correct. However, I like to think that a new day is really the more correct of the two. Why?

   Another day is just one more, an addition to a string of previous days. It is an attitude that assumes that each day will continue on pretty much as the previous one. There is a hint that there isn’t change coming and that instead it is a string of monotony. How boring! A new day on the other hand implies that there is something different, a gift. It is not an assumed thing that will be received, but a gift.
   I like to think that this day is a new day. It is different than the day before. Yes, some things will probably be similar. My schedule may be fairly set. However, there is something new about each day. A sunrise is unique, watching the water make waves on the Mississippi River, seeing the kids make their way to school. Trees grow, green up, turn beautiful colors for fall, and then shed their leaves for the winter. Flowers come to life, bloom, and then turn to seed. I just saw my first wooly worm of the fall, a new thing on a new day. It’s the small things that often set these days apart. But, each day is a gift. It is something unique, something precious.
   Our decisions need to reflect this mentality and abandon the another day thought. What would our world look like if we did so? Too big of a question? Okay, how about our homes. What would our homes look like if we reflected this mentality? Would we be quicker to pull out the camera and capture the memories, quicker to laugh over the spilled milk and juice rather than fuss? Would we plan days with great expectation and excitement, knowing that it would be different than the day before? Would we treat each other as if our new day with them was a gift?
   Have a great new day!

High Winds and Rainbows

Recently a friend reposted something on her blog (which I highly recommend because she writes as if she is the best friend and neighbor you never had and really wanted), but she inspired me to write about something in my life.

We have had quite a few storms here lately, torrential downpours where the streets gain a layer of silt filled dirt flowing down them in small torrents of water. Lightning has pierced clouds and trees, lightening up the night brilliantly with sharp crackles of light. Then, thunder that has rolled follows. There go the tornado sirens again. I’m to the point where I’m just keeping some things in the basement in preparedness so I don’t have to gather them each time. One afternoon this week, after the storm clouds had passed and it was starting to lighten back up, a friend called on her way home from work.

“Did you see it?”

“See what?”
“The rainbow!”

I stepped outside and saw the sky filled with a beautiful rainbow. What a wonderful promise God gives us in a rainbow. Noah was given that sign as a reminder, something like a great big visual sign post that says stop and pay attention. The rainbow was God’s personal promise never to flood the earth like he did in the great flood.
As for me, I have never been a huge fan of storms. I don’t like the unsettled feeling I have with them, not knowing which was the storm will turn or what will come of it. But, the rainbows that sometimes come after are a poignant reminder to me of God’s promise. Not only to Noah, but how he used a rainbow as a sign to me that he was there, present in a stormy time.

I stood at the door of a dorm at the University of Southern Mississippi. I had been there for a week and it was one of the worst weeks of my life. I had never had panic attacks before, but I did there. I won’t go into the long story of it all, but needless to say, I had had an exhausting and anxiety filled week. I was there just for a week for drum camp before the start of school. This was the college I had chosen to go to. Upon arrival, I could feel panic wash over me. I’m not sure why it started then, but it did. A trip to the campus nurse made it worse as I was given something for motion sickness which made me – that’s right – sick. A few animal crackers and cans of Coke were all I had that week, and then a can of chicken broth which tasted wonderful at the time. I remember laying in the bed, feeling very weak and exhausted and crying. In between the crying, I would try to read my Bible, I was seeking for solace where I knew I could find it. On the last full day there before I headed to meet my family in transit to their new home in Ohio, there was a storm. As I said, I’ve never been a fan of storms, but I was so numb by this point, I didn’t care much. It was after that storm, when the dark blue sky stopped throwing rain and thunder and lightning at us, that I looked out. A rainbow! A beautiful, bright rainbow! That storm had passed, but I felt like it had stormed just for me so that I could see the rainbow. It was a reminder to me of God’s promise. I may feel that I’m drowning, but I’ll be safe from the flood.

That was years ago. Many days and storms have passed since then. But, each rainbow I see holds a special meaning for me.

New Day or Another Day

A discussion was at work the other day, is it a new day or just another day? We weren’t really debating whether or not the time continuum would continue in its present schedule. This was no discussion of relativity or quantum physics. It was all about the mind-set of a new or another day. A new day being a fresh start and a new beginning for each of us. While on the other hand, another day would be just another day, stuck in some cycle.

Some days are most definitely another days while others are new days. It comes down to the mind set and approach I make each morning, before I even get out of bed. Stopping to pray, before my day begins helps tremendously for that day to be a new and not just another day. After all, “this is the day that the Lord has made!”

Broken Hallelujah

There is a song I ran across recently, well maybe listened across would be a better description. I saw the title when looking for new songs by a favorite artist of mine, Mandisa. I saw the title, Broken Hallelujah, and had to investigate the words.

“With my love and my sadness Yet I trust in this moment
I come before You Lord You’re with me somehow
My heart’s in a thousand pieces And You’ve always been faithful
Maybe even more So Lord even now

When all that I can sing
Is a broken hallelujah
When my only offering
Is shattered praise
Still a song of adoration
Will rise up from these ruins
I will worship You and give You thanks
Even when my only praise
Is a broken hallelujah

Oh Father, You have given How could I doubt Your goodness
Much more than I deserve Your wisdom, Your grace
And I have felt Your hand of blessing So Lord hear my heart
On me at every turn In this painful place

Chorus

Hallelujah
I lift my voice
Your Spirit moves
I raise my hands
I reach for You

Chorus”

I love the words in this song! It is easy to praise when things are going well, when the sun is right and life is good. It is not so easy when days are dark, the rain is pouring down on my head. But, what I love the most about this song is the reminder that the Lord is still good, He is still wise, He is still mercy and grace. My day yesterday was a good one. I accomplished a lot at work, had some nice time with family, spoke to a friend. I spent time with God, I spent time taking care of myself. It was an easy day to praise. Tomorrow may not be so good. It may be a hard day, a day when I just wish I were able to go back to bed and start over. How good it is to know even then that God is still there and still good. And when the ruins are there, stones toppled and dust coating the ground, destruction around. But, God is able to repair and rebuild. And when He does – His architecture is perfect. The design isn’t ours, but His! And therefore, it is completely perfect. So, no matter where the day leads, I choose to let God plan the design and I choose to praise Him regardless.