New Year, New You!
It’s catchy. It’s marketable. And it plays on the natural dissatisfaction that we all feel. I often feel disappointed in myself. You may sympathize… I am my own greatest critique.
As the winter chill wears off, spring opens new. It quickly gives way to summer heat, and before I know what has happened, November chases me into December, and I am standing in church on Christmas Eve, candle in hand, wondering who stole my year!
Now it is January
I am sitting in my kitchen facing the fireplace, coffee warming my hands while the fire quietly burns. I drink from a favorite cup with a chip in the rim and a crack that runs all the way to the bottom. It is a shallow crack—the cup still holds my coffee. It is old, and it has spent many mornings with me as I contemplate life at my kitchen table.
The same four walls surround me.
The same regrets from the past have not vanished.
The same responsibilities wait.
The morning is new, but I am not.
Like that cup, I am worn and tired. I carry the weight of past regrets and the dread of mistakes I know I will make again.
But scripture tells us something steady and sure.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.”
(Lamentations 3:22–23)
Not new circumstances.
Not a new season of life.
Not the removal of yesterday’s consequences.
But His mercy.
Unblemished. Untarnished. Unused.
As the fire flickers in the hearth, I am reminded that God does not promise a new life each January. He promises faithful mercy each morning. Mercy does not roar in all at once—it is tended, steady, and sufficient for the day. He does not discard what is cracked and worn. He fills it. He warms it. He keeps it.
This is my promise to my future self: I will not strive to be it all, do it all, win it all. Instead, I will live faithfully with the mercy God places before me today.
Time Passes Quickly
Time will pass quickly. It always does. But when I stand again at a Christmas Eve service, candle in hand, I do not want to measure the year by what I failed to accomplish. I want to know that I lived within the mercy God so freely gave. I hope my resolve encourages you as well as we face the new year together.
His mercy is new.
This year, I intend to live in it.
I talk to God every morning. Sometimes it is prayers and other it is conversation. I love HIM and feel his mercies every day. God bless you Katie for your words that encourage. Katy
Your message reminds me so much of studying The Fruits of the Spirit, with Lisa Racine this past year in our Women’s class. Several apply to this but kindness, putting love into action. Reminds me of his mercies, that he gives us. Thankyou for sharing this beautiful passage.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Katie, please take care of yourself. It’s not easy. I love the imagery of the chipped cup and drinking your coffee and acknowledging God thru it all. Love you