Remember the first day of school when you were little? New crayons, new pencils with sharp points, a new notebook with nothing written in it, maybe even some clothes you'd never worn before. Then as you get older, that first day of school means there are no grades in the teacher's book yet, no absences, no tardies - it's a nice feeling. Actually, you can have, in a sense, a lifetime of those first days!
Our proof of that comes from Lamentations 3, where we catch the great prophet Jeremiah on an emotional downer. It's Lamentations 3:19-22, "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me." Now Jeremiah's remembering yesterdays with a lot of garbage and failure in them. "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: (there's a change of mood here, huh?) 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 love those words - "His compassions...new every morning."
Now, what's so positive about that first day of school is that it's a brand new beginning - no marks on your record, a lot of opportunities that are untouched so far - a fresh start. But when God is your Father, every day is supposed to be like that - a new beginning.
God has made this wonderful promise in Deuteronomy 33:25, "Your strength will equal your days." Now, you will never have a day for which God will not provide matching strength. If you're facing a 50-pound day, God will give you 50-pound strength. If tomorrow is going to be a 100-pound day, He'll make sure you have 100 pounds of strength. But if you try to worry about tomorrow with today's strength, you'll sink. God's emotional, spiritual, and physical resources are measured out in 24-hour injections. So don't try to handle more than today with today's strength.
As you begin this year, remember that each 24-hour day is a unique gift from God. There's never been a day like it before, there never will be another day just like it again. Every day is that first day of school - clean paper, new crayons, sharp pencils, no marks. Let God make each new day a fresh new beginning!