Everyday is a new start.
It’s been raining for a day. I woke up to the chill of rain outside, and drove to school this morning around 6 a.m. (Yes, be impressed…6 a.m., without coffee even) On the way to school my windows were fogging, so I had to use my defroster. Everything was saturated and wet. The street, the trees, my truck. I know, you’re like, “Duh, that’s what rain DOES, Joel.” But you don’t understand the novelty.
I’m not a big fan of heat (even if it’s dry), and right now I live in Chandler (which is next to Phoenix). It cracks me up when people say, “Well, it’s a DRY heat.” Cummon, ovens are dry heat too! I know there are hotter places, but give this mountain boy the cool mountain air! My theory with Phoenix is that it was not discovered, but rather it was stumbled on by a guy who (like in the cartoons) was crawling on all fours, crying out in desperation “W-a-a-a-t-er…” And in Phoenix he found a tree with a puddle of water. Looking around he thought, “There’s no way I’ll be able to find my way out of this.” So he built a home, and he was a haven to other people who were lost in the desert. Who knows…it could have happened.
My point is that I’m thankful for the rain, even if it doesn’t seem so in my zombie-like, groggy state. On the way to school in my truck, the thing that kept coming to my mind was the word mercy. Mercy for me. Mercy for you. Mercy for the poor, the widow, and the outcast. Mercy for the people in my school, for my teachers, and for the people I work with. Mercy from the heat, to be sure, but more than that: mercy from the past. Everyday is a new start. The Creator of the Universe has allowed me a second chance (actually, it’s not a SECOND chance at all, but more like chance # 235,197,002,432). However, it’s my second chance because He doesn’t count the other 235,197,002,431 tries against me. He’s wiped the whiteboard of my exsistence clean, and His gift to me today is a mercy new, saturated, morning of His love: to love in, to play in, and to live in as best I can.
I’m going to go jump in a puddle. You’re invited to join me.
Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble.