What a difference a day makes...?

For some of the countdown has already begun - in just over 12 hours (or less, depending on when you are reading this), a New Year will have begun.  Resolutions will have been made (and some already broken, perhaps?)  We will put up new calendars and try to remember to write/type "2014" instead of "2013".

What a difference a day makes.  In one sense, it is just the setting and rising of the sun once again.  There will not be some magical change in the air that makes tomorrow any different than today (other than having the day off, lots of football games and of course, the Rose Bowl parade).  We are the ones who have placed the emphasis on this changing of the year from one to another.  (There is interesting information available about the development of each cultures calendars).

Other than the ordinariness of one year passing into another, we use this time to reflect on the past 12 months and lift up our hopes for the upcoming months.  It is an opportunity to step back and ponder our lives, especially when every other day seems to be a blur.

It is a time to set goals, to reevaluate our  lives and even our purpose.  We treat this new day and new year as a clean slate, as a time to start (or re-start) again.  It is fresh.  It is new.  It is full of possibilities.

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)

By the grace of God, each day is new and full of possibilities.  Each day is a gift given and entrusted into our care.  We are invited to be stewards of each day.  We are blessed by God with these days and months to lie ahead of us.

In viewing our days this day, what difference might this make on not just today or tomorrow but on a day four and half months from now or in 238 days?  (someone do the math for me and let me know what those days will be).

I invite you to place this Bible verse someplace where you will see it to remind you of the new days that dawn every morning and how God provides a difference for our days and our lives.  (Note: you may chose to move this reminder around so that it doesn't become just a part of the scenery).