It's a new day! Full of fresh opportunities and more possibilities. Don't get trapped in replaying the screw ups of yesterday/last week/last year in your mind. Seize this new day with its new mercies and fresh forgiveness.

What did you want to accomplish that you were unable to in the past? Where did you fall before and don't want to fall again?

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness."

- Lamentations 3: 22-23

"...and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

- 1 John 1:7,8

They enemy would love for us to get caught up in thinking about our past and allowing yesterday's guilt, disappointment, and frustration to keep us from the promises of a new day. But we know that the Blood of Jesus covers every pain, every failure, and every stumbling block. 1 Peter 4:8 reminds us that "love covers a multitude of sins.” Christ’s existence is the very definition of love. Every day is a new opportunity to try again.

In your quiet time with the Lord, take a minute and think about it. Open your eyes and your heart and take notice of what the Holy Spirit points out to you; jot down a list of things you want to do differently. Is your aim to control your temper better than you did yesterday when someone cut you off in traffic? When your coworker seems to find your last nerve and stomp all over it, do you want to exercise a little patience? When a friend offers you help in an area where you obviously need it, do you want to be better at taking on an attitude of humility? Whatever it is, today is the day. We can't erase what has already taken place, but we can commit ourselves to making today, tomorrow and next month a little different.

Shari Grant is a Registered Nurse in South Florida, where she was raised in a (very!) Jamaican home. Some of the loves of her life are words (both reading and writing them) and missions work. She enjoys spending time with friends and family while living for a good laugh - one that makes her belly ache and her eyes water. Her bottom line goal in life is to make the Lord smile and maybe even serve Him up a chuckle from time to time, too.