A Clean Slate

People long for a fresh start, a clean slate.  The New Year is always a good marker for that.  Resolutions are made and there is an excitement and anticipation that come with beginning anew.  I like to have goals for the new year too. 

Be a better wife and mom, grow closer to God, make friendships dearer, exercise more, etc.

But what happens when the resolutions are forgotten or what if you (I) mess up on day 1?  I am thankful that I don't just have one day a year to have a fresh start.  I can have 5 fresh starts a day.

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."  Isaiah 1:18

I lose my composure and snap at one of my children.  I am a selfish wife.  Thank you God for the grace of a new day right now. 

The fruits of the spirit are not evident.  I feel as if my new start is foiled and my selfishness has taken over. 

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"  2 Corinthians 5:17 

Because of being redeemed by the blood of Jesus, I am a new creation in Him.  My desires to be a good mom?  He has given me those desires, He will help me.

"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.  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.  I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."  Lamentations 3:19-24

I (you) need not be consumed by my failures, my inability to love. I have hope.  After my endless failures, He still has compassion for me.  He is my portion and I wait for Him.