Starting Over

There are some days that I wake up so very thankful for a new day, fresh with new mercies. Then there are other days in which I wake up in the doldrums of yesterday. Thoughts swirling of how yesterday didn't go quite as planned, the mistakes I made, and the ways in which I went wayward. But if I dwell in those thoughts, I will miss the promise of today and its new opportunities.

Take for example my run this morning. I haven't run consistently in over two years (a combination of moving cross country to a very mountainous terrain and having my third baby) but am trying to encourage and motivate myself to start back up again. So I willed myself out of bed, put my headphones on, tied up my laces and hit the road running. It was hard. Every step hurt, my legs didn't exactly know what to do and my lungs were burning. Then I looked to my left over the lake, and saw a rainbow.  A promise of God's faithfulness and beauty I would have never seen had I stayed in the bed. If I stayed in the doldrums of yesterday, the 'Eeyore' type mentality, I would have missed a visible sign of mercy, promise, and joy. I am so glad I got out of bed this morning.

I came across this saying from a sermon a few weeks ago: "Progress is the process of starting and stopping again." The focus should be on starting and never giving up. Just because life didn't go exactly go as you would have hoped, or you made a choice you regret, it doesn't mean you stay there. You start over again, fresh in God's mercy. Today is a new day, rejoice and be glad in it!