In light of the events in our country and world over the last week (let alone the last year), I wanted to share this short piece I'd written for the Kingsport Times News in November. As I sat in my study this morning and looked out the window, I saw the yellow and orange bands peaking over the eastern ridge. It made me smile and reminded me of this:
I love sunrises. No two are ever quite the same. I’m not a mathematician, but I’d guess that the odds of the sun being at the exact position in the sky in relation to my standing on my back deck are very small…it’s probably even smaller when you consider things like the leaf density on the ridgeline to the East, cloud cover, air quality, UV level…you get the point I think - no two sunrises are the same.
Whether you realize it or not, tomorrow morning, you have a decision to make. Will you watch the sun rise? I can all but guarantee it is the only one of its exact kind that will ever be. If you’re 10 minutes late, you’ll miss it…10 minutes early, you’ll miss it too.
We’ll call this the Principle of the Sunrise (and I think it a profound Kingdom of God principle): the decisions you make in life do not have a do-over button. Specific decisions at specific moments in time will literally only happen once. If your timing was off; the decision was poor; you messed up; you missed the moment…it’s gone, it’s done, it happened.
But there’s another reason I love sunrises – there’s a new one every day. Just because I missed it today, I’m not disqualified from seeing a sunrise ever again. There’s a new one tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that.
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22–23, NIV)
For all those moments that you messed up; blew it; lost your cool; lost your mind; lost your soul; for the times you wish you could take back and the words you wish you’d never said…you can’t get those moments back and you can’t change them.
But this is Good News: there’s new mercy every morning. There will be other opportunities to serve; other opportunities to love; other opportunities to be patient and kind; other opportunities to offer words of encouragement; other opportunities to be selfless; other opportunities to love; there will be other people, other relationships, other jobs, other dreams, other hopes.
When you bring your hurts, habits, and hang-ups to Jesus, he is Faithful and Just to forgive. Remember today that He is full of Grace and Truth with new Mercy every morning.
Comentarios